


We Are Tenno

by JaxxCapta



Series: Souls of Puppets [1]
Category: Warframe
Genre: Canon is A Rough Guideline, Epistolary, Especially in Regards to Warframe Origins and Umbras, Found Family, Friendship, Frost is a Teenage Boy, Gen, Limbo is Too Clever For His Own Good, Mag is Tired, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Natah Spoilers, Original Character(s), Protective Siblings, Rhino is Loud, Silly Fic Gained a Plot, Slice of Life, The Second Dream Spoilers, The War Within Spoilers, Vauban Just Wants to Draw, Written Pre-Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-04-21 09:25:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 91
Words: 51,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14281908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaxxCapta/pseuds/JaxxCapta
Summary: Everyone needs balance. To maintain order there must first exist chaos. To battle a solar system, one must find inner peace, lest they be destroyed. For a ship full of rowdy jackasses to survive, someone has to be sensible.Mag is the poor soul stuck with that job. She tells her tale in her journal, one of her few bastions of peace left in the Origin System. From kubrow puppies to roughhousing tanks to whatever secrets the Lotus has hidden from the Tenno, she's been there, done that, scolded Frost for it. She records events big and small. After all, even the Tenno need to have fun.





	1. Puppy

Dear Journal,

I'm Mag.

Wait. Am I supposed to introduce myself to you like you are sentient? If you are, my apologies, because you look as lifeless as my sword. You took a long time to find, though, and a lot of credits to get. And a lot of effort to keep away from everyone else.

Speaking of, I think Polar Bear just urinated on something she's not supposed to. Ordis is making a racket.

I don't know where Rhino disappeared to, I don't _think_ the Operator took him on a mission. Usually he's the kubrow keeper, and for good reason. Frost was standing there, I think trying to scold Polar Bear. It's not easy to take someone bright green and orange seriously, let me tell you that. Especially not when he's doing nothing more than pointing at the puddle and then wagging his finger at the kubrow. Polar Bear seemed to think the same, she just rolled over for tummy rubs.

I think that if I got the cleaning supplies any slower than I did, Ordis would have exploded and taken the rest of us out with him. I'd thought he'd been doing so much better with her, too. He said the noise she made wasn't displeasing! Then she had to go and pee near the printer.

Sorry for throwing you all of a sudden, journal. Frost came down to ask for my opinion on a couple potential signs for... genitalia and their uses. I almost told him to wait until Rhino came back but he gave me that pathetic look he's been working on. I did let him know that emphatic gesturing at the part in question might not be useful in polite conversation. I don't think that was the answer he wanted.

I'm glad he has a hobby that keeps him sitting still for a few minutes at a time but I'm pretty sure he's trying to do this 'conlang' thing so he can make dick jokes.

But seriously.

Where did Rhino go?


	2. Princess

Dear Journal,

So. Rhino's a princess.

I'll take this from the beginning.

Everyone was resting – even Ordis had been quiet for a couple hours – when I heard the Liset docking. I thought it may be boarders so I bolted upright. Frost stayed asleep, cuddling with Polar Bear.

By the time I'm climbing up the ladder to the main deck I hear all this thumping around so I'm _pretty_ sure it's Rhino. I get to the top, try to get a look-

And he shoved me back down belowdecks! Asshole!

(I think I see why Frost wanted to work on those signs now.)

Anyways, a few hours later everyone's up. Including me. I heard Ordis say, “It is very flattering, Operator.”

This time, Rhino didn't shove me back down.

He's pink. Flowery pink, with bits of yellow he's trying to pass off as gold. Somewhere on his journeys he found a new helmet with winglike things coming off of it – the Vanguard style, from my research - and a new syndana. It looks like a cape and he keeps growling at it and trying to stretch it wider. I tried to point out more capelike syndanas, but no. Apparently all the “actually regal-looking” ones either have designs he doesn't like or are too roughed up for his character. Who is still, mind you, a Rhino.

And yeah, he insists on being addressed as Princess Rhino now. I'm almost worried he did do something to make himself royalty somewhere. Didn't the baseline Inaros do that?

_Why a princess?_ I asked.

He posed with his ax. Which, by the way, he took the Scindo Prime from the arsenal. And the Soma Prime, so now Frost has to share and he's moping about it. Back to the point, I think Rhino tried to say princesses are badass.

He also very enthusiastically demonstrated he plans on killing more Grineer like this. Is it social commentary about their queens?

I haven't asked.

I'm not sure if I want to know the answer.

Frost thinks Rhino and I should share the new syndana. Or, he thought that. Rhino almost chased him off the Orbiter when he suggested it, ax in hand, roaring loud enough it got Ordis shouting for him to knock it off. How does anyone manage to work in the field with him? The Operator had to step in, take control of Rhino, and make him go to sleep before he'd stop.

Needless to say, I am keeping my old syndana. It's thin, it's classy, and most importantly, it's mine.

If they try to take it I shall stick them to the ceiling and leave them there.


	3. Specialization

Dear Journal,

Not much is new. I'm watching the crafting station print away, Princess Rhino is strutting, and Frost changed colors again. At least he's not that awful bright green and orange any more. I'm not sure if I'll die or kill him first if he returns to it, no matter what “classical inspiration” he tries to claim.

The fuck is a Dewrito, anyways?

It's been quiet around here. For me, anyways. The Operator has been specializing the three of us. Rather, specializing Frost and I. Mostly me. I am apparently on Corpus duty for the next eternity. Frost has only gotten pulled for extraction and defense missions. Rhino's getting specialized into generalizing.

Frost tried being noticeable (read: a total jackass) when the Operator has control of Rhino to see if he'd get picked for something new instead. He's the only one of us who hasn't reached his full potential – though, since he's a Prime, he's already quite powerful. I almost worry the Operator is keeping him down because of how we found him.

But that is a story for another time, and there are more pressing matters.

I'm not sure what's worse: Frost worrying about being specialized, or his acting out to get noticed. Impromptu snowball fights with Rhino and I are _not_ proper! Also his snowballs have an icy core and it really hurts to get hit with them.

Ordis doesn't like the water, either. “Don't freeze my systems! They are very delicate,” and all that.

Come to think of it, maybe the Operator is punishing Frost for upsetting Ordis by not taking him on missions. Usually anything that bothers Ordis gets met with amusement and minor rebellion, though.

Maybe I should see if I can get Rhino to do something to bother Ordis and test my theory. It shouldn't be hard to do. It's a miracle he hasn't given the poor Cephalon a short circuit or five by now. I think the last time Ordis knew a day without warframe-related stress was when I was the only frame and the Operator had near-constant control over me.

I think Polar Bear needs some attention. I shall return.


	4. Usage

Dear Journal,

I got to go out on a mission! We have been tracking down the parts of Limbo's theorem – and his parts, for that matter. I imagine it was quite messy when it was fresh. Anyways, the Operator decided to give me a turn!

I definitely felt like I got used in a more Rhino-y fashion, though. I don't think the Operator has come to grips with the fact that Frost and I are not, in fact, capable of making ourselves near invincible. Judging from all the action I got thrown in the middle of, maybe it's for the best that Rhino is the favorite. The moment the Operator let me go I dragged myself belowdecks and slept until everything meshed together again. I think I actually managed to bleed on the floors. It's a true miracle I didn't wake up when Ordis noticed.

Or maybe it was a greater miracle and one of the others cleaned it up first. What's the point of being a warframe if you can't work without detection, anyways?

...I guess the tanks make it work somehow.

I also got the sense the Operator wants to change the color of the Orbiter soon. I tried to bring up that I like the blue and orange – I wouldn't have orange accents otherwise, though I must say I'm a much darker blue with much less orange – so maybe we will not be subject to whatever saturated, high-contrast horrors lurk in that mind.


	5. Weights

Dear Journal,

Kill me now, the boys are trying to deadlift each other.

Make that Rhino is deadlifting Frost above his head like he weighs nothing, Frost keeps pretending that he can get Rhino an inch off the floor.

They asked me if I wanted to join and I could not shake my head fast enough. Apparently Frost now owes Rhino credits, the former bet I'd join in and deadlift him, the latter was right. Considering we don't have any form of allowance, separate bank accounts, or even a spreadsheet with what part of the credit hoard is ours, I doubt Rhino plans on collecting. I _hope_ he's not planning on collecting. Could you imagine?

No, probably not. You are, after all, lined synthetic paper with a pretty cover.

Anyways, I'm hiding so they don't try to grab me as some sort of audience. Unfortunately, Rhino is in the habit of roaring every time he picks Frost up. I don't know how everyone who ever teams up with him doesn't leave with a headache at the end of the mission. What is their secret? Is it not living with him? Is it not letting him interact with someone like Frost?

How come every other Frost seems so cool and professional, and mine is trying to pick up the heaviest warframe in the system?

For that matter, why does said warframe encourage him? Maybe if there were other frames around they'd be a little more normal. Or maybe I am cursed, and I may never live or have extensive interaction with anyone who has the slightest bit of sense.

I will return. Ordis needs help. They're holding a cable-tossing contest.


	6. Valkyr

Dear Journal,

We docked at Maroo's Bazaar to get some stuff done. There's a few blueprints the Operator wanted to sell, and I tried my hand at getting an Ayatan treasure for Maroo. It... didn't work. The Operator is, unfortunately, not very good at obstacle courses. However, I don't think I'd be able to withstand the corruption without the power of the tenno, so I'll hold out my hope for next time. At least it seems I will be the preferred treasure hunting frame. Rhino is too slow, and I don't think Frost has been in an Orokin area yet.

So anyways, we all took our turns going out and exploring. Both the Operator and we enjoy getting to stretch our legs and explore an area where people aren't trying to shoot at us. I mean, sometimes I think I hear a gunshot, and a lot of us tenno try to find the source, but that doesn't happen often. I do kind of prefer the Larunda relay. It's quieter, I've found, and if things get too busy I can duck into the shops. It may sound strange coming from an anti-Corpus specialized frame, but I rather enjoy sitting with Darvo and Clem. They're quite understanding.

Goodness I keep getting off-track today.

 _So,_ we each got our turn to explore. Mine was mostly running the treasure hunting mission. Unsuccessful, a bit painful (I ended up running from most of the enemies), and a little disappointing at failing the mission, but it was brisk and didn't require too much interaction. Frost ran out as fast as he could once it was his turn. He's out meeting with some friends who are in on his conlang hobby. Rhino went for a stroll and brought someone home, so that's what he's missing.

She's a Valkyr. My stomach churned at the sight of her, the exposed skin, the exposed _spine,_ the manacles clinging to her. She smells faintly bloody and I don't know if it's from her or if she didn't clean up properly after a mission. She's been sitting with Rhino for a while now but can't seem to stay still. She looks everywhere, taps her claws on her knee and the floor, and startled when Polar Bear decided to visit her.

Rhino demonstrated how to give proper kubrow belly rubs, and Valkyr seems to have accepted Polar Bear. I hope so, anyways. Polar Bear is napping in her lap as I write.

Frost just got back. He charged in and almost skidded into Valkyr. Hold on, I think I need to mediate.

It has been a few hours. Valkyr left a little while ago. She intimidated Frost, I've never seen him look more apologetic. Then again, that might have been the Operator still in control being intimidated. We – or rather Rhino – fought Alad V and his Zanuka not that long ago. It was rather quiet on the ship after that.

Valkyr and Frost, however, made up rather quickly. She seems to recognize he's not that clever and it was an honest mistake, though it took some time for her to not sit a good distance from him. He's also recruited her into his conlang project by repeatedly signing 'sorry' at her. She stared at him and pointed at his hands, and it ended with him teaching her a couple signs and giving her information about the project and his group of friends.

Overall, she seems nice enough. I appreciate anyone who can keep Rhino and Frost calm for so long.

It was nice, being in the friendship circle.


	7. Coward

Dear Journal,

I often forget the Stalker technically marked us for death. He doesn't seem all that good at it, anyways. Last time one of us encountered him, he roughed up Frost, who was maybe half as strong as Rhino or I at the time. Frost was in awful shape, to be certain, but not dead. Helminth patched up what his own systems couldn't handle and he spent a few days belowdecks, hugging and cuddling with anyone who happened to be there at the time.

By the way, he is frigid to the touch, as to be expected. Absolutely fucking freezing. A great aspect after a fight, when it dulls aches and pains. If we had a blanket, though, I would have wrapped myself up in it to compensate.

Frost still gets a little mission-shy when he remembers the mark, but it's not nearly as much of a damper as it once was. He's afraid that since he hasn't reached his full potential, the Stalker will pick him as an easy target again.

Quite cowardly, if you ask me.

I posed the situation to Rhino when he was planetside on Earth, giving Polar Bear some time to walk. Ordis passed the message along, the Taxon's optics recorded the result. He buried his ax in a boulder with one hand and growled, so I take it he's worried for Frost, too.

If nothing else, I am glad we can support each other.


	8. Tricky

Dear Journal,

The Operator recolored the inside of the Orbiter and it is distressing. It's not really blue any more! It's green! The lights are green. The walls are light green. What isn't green is vaguely tan. I think this is an attempt to make things “springy” but I do not like it. It's confusing. Rhino's been wandering around, standing in front of random things, and grumbling all morning. Frost crept up the ladder and lowered himself down again immediately. I haven't seen him since, but the floor is rather cold.

We also finished gathering everything for Limbo. Finding out the ending of the tale distressed Ordis, and I think he's a little concerned for us if we do put the frame together again. The Operator has been considering it, but we'll need to make more space first. I just hope that any Limbo the blueprints create isn't as brash as the baseline was. Clever, yes, but in the end acted with wild abandon, from what Ordis told us.

I suppose he would fit well with the Operator's style, then.

I'm being mean. The Operator has been getting better about me, at least. Frost hasn't gotten a mission recently. However, we went out with a friend to help her find Archwing parts. Maybe it's because I wasn't trying to keep up with a group, but I got some time to practice my stealth and bow shots. The Operator and I had a hard time adjusting to the Cernos at first after the Mark 1 Paris, but I think I'm getting used to it. We also found a new statue, so we got to do some more interior decorating. Of course, everything is _uneven_ because we have _three_ statues and all that, but we'll live.

Someday, maybe we will practice and I will be able to do cool trick shots, like stealth attacks from the air. Stealth _headshots_ from the air!

It'll be so fun, and I'll be so cool.

To myself, anyways. I don't get much chance to try impressive things around others. I pull people down, I strip them of their shields, I smash them into the ground. They kill everything else too fast for me to get a chance.

I have an idea. Maybe I can give Rhino or Frost the Vulkar, and we can find some sort of long-distance shooting range. I can show them what I've been doing. We'll swap out and use Rhino's camera drone to compare shots. It'll be a good day trip.


	9. Personality

Dear Journal,

We recolored the Orbiter's interior again (it is less green, it's greyish with some red and blue lighting now) and we are now building Limbo. We got the full-frame blueprint and set everything up in Helminth's room. It took him a bit to open the door, and... I don't know. He's so quiet, and the only reasons I've been in there were to get new frames made and to get a cyst removed. I don't know if it's because of Ordis' disgust towards him coloring my perception or what, but I get the feeling he doesn't like the rest of us much. It doesn't help that none of us are Nidus, ever since they rediscovered him and developed blueprints from his baseline everyone's known Helminth prefers Nidus over everyone else.

At least he's amicable to building frames. While he's been doing that, we've been prepping the Orbiter. We had to spend some platinum on supplies and everything, but hopefully it will be worth it. I do hope this is the right choice. I've heard that Limbos are... contentious, and I have been trying to impress upon the Operator the need to practice with him once he's done. I think it's worked, I feel caution whenever I am the focus of Transference and we think about Limbo. All of us have come to a consensus that his default helm is visually displeasing, so we actually ran an alert and built his Magrite helm first.

Both the Operator and I have doubts on him as a person as well, which concerns me more than how he may work on the battlefield or what his face looks like. I am not sure how to better put this, so...

He looks like an arrogant ass. A particularly smarmy one who thinks he's kind and flirtatious when he's really just off-putting and deceptive. I've known plenty of Limbos who do behave that way, or at least do so in conjunction with their Operators, which bodes well for neither of them. For once, I hope we don't get a more “standard” frame personality.

Who knows? Maybe he'll be another jock like Frost and Rhino. Just one that likes math.


	10. Instruments

Dear Journal,

We don't spend credits or platinum that often. We just recently reworked our mods so that we are actually able to keep up with our peers. We earn plenty through missions and alerts especially, so we have a good stockpile by now, but we save it. I don't question it – there's not much we need.

The boys seemed to think otherwise. They grabbed me and sat me down at the market console on our way to a relay. Before I knew it, they had me looking at instruments. The prices are ridiculous, let me tell you that, even accounting for the inflation on credits. They seemed pretty determined to find me something, though, and Frost promised the two of them would learn to play well, not bother anyone trying to sleep, that sort of thing.

And, okay, it looked kind of fun.

The plan is to start a rock band. Music isn't all that common, at least not in the spaces we frequent. Even Octavia models use electronics, which makes our largely acoustic even rarer. We'll spend a while figuring out our style and practicing. Frost is excited about the idea of doing gigs and is currently sitting across the room from me, trying to come up with outfits, or at least a color palette. I don't know if Princess Rhino will accept changing from pink, but Frost can try.

Anyways, I am now the designated keyboarder; we considered putting me on drums but the kits were far more expensive than most of the keyboards I saw. Rhino and Frost are going to sort out who's on bass and who's on guitar later. I wrote to the Valkyr we met and befriended to see if she'd be interested in doing vocals. Rhino will, too, of course, but I think he wanted me to get her involved. I'm not sure how else I could interpret him jabbing his finger at a microphone (that we are not getting), making claws with his other hand, and I think trying to imitate Valkyr's voice?

I really hope he doesn't try to do that again. They may both have the ability to vocalize, but deep and growly does not translate to higher and furious all that well. It sounded like something being strangled.

Ordis just announced a message in the inbox!


	11. Friend!

Dear Journal,

Valkyr agreed to be part of the band! She said her operator had been looking to branch out some more, and that making music sounded like a constructive way of working out concepts and emotions. We're going to meet up today to talk logistics and get the instruments we'd been looking at. She's fine being on vocals only; she's afraid she would scratch up an instrument. Same reasoning Rhino didn't want to be on drums, besides concerns that nobody would be able to hear his voice.

I'm pretty sure he can't deafen any of us, even himself, but I have no clue where he got the idea he'd ever be inaudible.

Everyone's excited to be starting this project. Frost wants to make a better impression on Valkyr; he's been pacing and practicing his most polite signs all day. I made a list of all the things Rhino wanted me to look for, since I'm going to be meeting with Valkyr. He'll see about getting them later, I presume. Shopkeepers may ask me if I need assistance moving anything, but nobody will bother him about it.

I've got to go!

I have returned from the meeting. It went well. I showed Valkyr some samples of what the boys seem to be using as inspiration. I think the softness and more acoustic sound surprised her, especially with the plan for her and Rhino to be our vocalists.

I felt the same way. I showed her some samples on what _I_ thought we would sound like when Frost first proposed the idea. They weren't as easy to find, but they were significantly more intense, I suppose.

She found what _she_ was thinking, and it definitely fit her vocal style. The instrumentals on mine were a little more complex, I think, but what she found was... angry. It almost reminded me of when Ordis glitched, or whatever is going on with him, except the vocals were a constant roll of screaming mixed with some growling. I think the band's vocalist was a rebel Grineer.

I just looked them up. It looks like they're all rebel Grineer women, the band's called Horoi Kwuim. The lead's got the mods a heavy gunner would have. It looks like she also made herself some platform boots and a spiked jacket. Oh goodness, she's tall.

I apologize for using you to smack Frost in the face, journal. He walked over and looked at the image I had up and I just knew he was going to make fun of me for staring, I had to act preemptively.

Oh, Ordis didn't like that. “Mag! We do not fight aboard the Orbiter!” he said.

Frost is moping in the corner now.

I should go apologize.

I will rescind it if he takes it as permission to tease me, though.


	12. Imagine

Dear Journal,

Everything is smoothed over with Frost. We even managed to do so before Rhino and the Operator returned to the Orbiter. I don't think Rhino would have gotten terribly upset at us, but this may be one of the few areas where the Operator sides with Ordis.

Anyways, Valkyr returned with Rhino and we just finished setting up the instruments for our first practice. I'm looking up good basic how-to videos, just to learn how to play everything. We can figure out how to make our own music later, in my opinion.

Frost is trying to convince everyone to go with his stage persona idea. He's thinking of everyone having a black and grey heavy coloration, but we each pick a color we'd like as a tertiary. In his drawings, mine is blue, Rhino's is pink, Valkyr's is red, and his is green.

From the look Rhino gave him, I don't think that plan is going into action. I knew he wouldn't want to change colors. We've both known him for the same amount of time, Frost should have clued in, too. And, honestly, I feel like the black and grey scheme is the territory of edgy sorts, which is the opposite of Princess Rhino.

Okay. I have a good variety of videos for everyone, I think we're going to break up and start practicing.

Oh! There's still some room left! It's been a few hours, we've all gotten into it. I think our Operator found something soothing in the music and they slipped further into the dream, everything felt strange and trancelike for a while there. I stayed by the navigation console with my keyboard, and I can hear Frost practicing with his bass over near the incubator with Polar Bear.

I can also hear Rhino and Valkyr practicing belowdecks. Mostly Valkyr, it's hard to miss that scream no matter how much hull is between you and her. She sounds like she's trying so hard to be melodic. It's actually what broke my concentration Oh goodness, it sounds more like she's starting to cry than it already did. I should go check on her. Plus I'm running out of space on the page.


	13. Blue Spy

Dear Journal,

Oh, goodness, it's been so long since I've gotten back to you. There's a couple things I need to say.

One, we have continued practicing music, but we're away from the relays for now, back out on missions. Rhino and I have been trying to find relics and fissures, we want to build up a nice supply of platinum.

Two, Limbo is taking a disconcertingly long time to build. Helminth won't let us in to see what's going on, and Ordis warned us that from what he sees through the sensors in there, it's not a pretty sight. Not that he ever thinks Helminth is anything less than grotesque, but I'm worried something is off with the blueprints or the parts we made. He says Limbo is mostly done, but Helminth appears to be... operating on him?

There's nothing we can do about it besides worry. Which we're doing plenty of, trust me. I think that's part of why we've been running so many fissure missions and alerts. We and the Operator feed into each other, and we all need a distraction. Getting Prime blueprints works well enough.

Hold on. Rhino just got back and showed us a scan of something strange. The Lotus calls it an... oculyst?

Why do I get the feeling this is going to lead us into trouble?


	14. Grandfather

Dear Journal,

Rhino and I have been in and out. Mostly Rhino, of course, but we all know what has been going on.

I just don't know how to react to it. There's _so_ much. Lotus' name is Natah, and something called a Sentient has been looking for her so he can kill us all. He claims to be her father, of all things. I don't know... All this time, I've felt that the Lotus is some sort of mythological being, entirely disconnected from things like family. Oh, this goes so much deeper than I expected.

The arguments between Teshin and the Lotus, too, those were a headache. I trusted her, I want to continue to trust her, she hasn't tried to hurt us thus far. She was supposed to kill us, and instead she protected us. She did so by keeping secrets, but she did keep us from dying out.

Rhino looked absolutely awful after coming in from the fight with Tyl Regor, whom he elected to pursue before dealing with the Sentient. Apparently Regor prefers using melee, too, and the two slugged it out for a long time, even with other Tenno battling alongside him. He got just enough time to patch up before he had to go out again to defend a bomb to seal the Sentient's tomb. When he got back he went belowdecks and crashed onto the floor, in the middle of everything. He's still sleeping. Polar Bear's all snuggled up with him.

Frost is processing everything, too. At the very least, he's figured out one way to cope – he informed me not long ago that he was starting to come up with signs for familial relations. 'Mother' is Lotus' name. 'Father' right now is a screwy combination, I think including something vulgar. 'Grandfather' increases the vulgarity.

I think he's a little mad at this Sentient. I'm glad he still trusts the Lotus, though. He's faced enough upsets in his life, he doesn't need another one like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> So, uh, I have a lot of buffer. Like, a lot. If I stopped writing right now but maintained a regular posting schedule, I'd have content for half a year. That doesn't even account for chapters getting longer as I go along, so eventually I'm going to switch to posting one chapter a week. Let me tell you, Mag gets less sparse with details as time goes on.
> 
> I have to say, it feels weird to be posting chapters without Limbo when he's been part of the family for so long in my writing. Everyone's favorite trollframe is coming soon, though.
> 
> Also, hoo boy, the character and plot arcs cooking up for later down the line. We're in it for the long haul. Let's get truckin'.
> 
> -Jaxx


	15. Coat

Dear Journal,

I've been so busy. I haven't even had much time for keyboard practice. The Operator is giving Rhino a break I guess, and has realized it may be a good idea to let Frost train the last little bit. I think, once he's all sorted out, he's going to be a pretty tough little guy.

...Okay. Not very little, even if he is on the shorter side. Today I found out he can take his coat off. I also found out that he has abs of what must be literal steel under it.

He'd thrown his coat to the side for some reason. I think he got some gunk under it during his last mission, which wouldn't be a surprise. Grineer, Corpus, Infested, the similar thing between all of them is the mess they make when they die. He got out of the little side room we use for cleaning and I did the first thing I thought of: I picked his coat up and threw it at him.

“Mag!” Ordis said. “That is unnecessary!”

Frost caught it and stared at it, then at me. He gave me such a pitiful look, which made it worse because he's like family, and we never got to have family. On the other hand, he's specifically the pain in the ass younger sibling. Either way, not the sort of person I need to know the understructure of. I tried to gesture for him to put it back on. It didn't work, so I went up and tried to untangle it and dress him myself. To little success. He doesn't respond well to being made to do anything, my arm still hurts for it.

The commotion got Rhino's attention. He stood in the doorway and watched Frost and I wrestle with each other over the coat. I think he laughed, he made some sort of deep rumbling noise. He could have been angry with us for interrupting his nap, for all I know.

What am I going to do when Limbo's done? I don't know if I can take having another brother. I don't know if any of _us_ could take _him_. Ordis already knows what the baseline was capable of.

I am going to be so exhausted for the rest of my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which both Harka and the normal skins are canon. How does this work when the coat seems to be made of warframe? Orokin science, that's how.


	16. Limbo

Dear Journal,

We met Limbo today.

With Rhino, when Helminth finished with him, the doors opened and he strolled out like it was the most natural thing. Sure, he looked around and stretched, but it really wasn't spectacular.

Today, the doors opened, Limbo got up from the chair Helminth had him in, and fell to the ground. At first I feared the somatic link was too spread out with four frames, especially since Rhino was out on a mission. But no, all of us should have felt it.

I didn't know what to do at first. He crawled towards the door, dragging one leg behind him. Shivers wracked him. After a miserable fifteen seconds he curled up, hugging his bad leg close.

Something, _something_ got to Frost and I. We ran to him and helped him up. I had him on the right side, with his bad leg. He leaned into me and I ended up almost all his weight. Frost wasn't holding him as close. He's frigid, and he knows it.

I couldn't really sign with the way Limbo held onto me. Frost got the idea of what he needed to do anyways, and ran ahead so he could help Limbo down the ladder. We eventually got him belowdecks and into a little niche we rest in.

Ordis told us he'd contact the Operator and see how much longer the mission with Rhino would take. Frost used his built-in flashlight while I examined Limbo.

Whatever operations Helminth did, they were extensive. I don't know why it took him until late to deal with the problem, but I can't change the past. Huge incision marks run all over Limbo's right leg, and there's multiple smaller ones on his left. There's more around his chest. I don't know why. I don't know what went wrong. We may need to see if we can find a Nidus whom Helminth may be willing to talk to. Was it the blueprints? Did the baseline have a defect? Was there some flaw in the crafted parts we didn't notice until too late?

I've been sitting with him, he's all curled up again and resting his head on my leg. Frost brought you to me, journal. He has been keeping an eye on Polar Bear. She came down to visit and see if Limbo would give her pats. He did, but drew the line with her licking his hand and pulled away.

Rhino just got back. I heard the Liset dock.

He's finished up giving Limbo another round of poking and prodding. I think the Operator may have transferred out of Rhino and into Limbo, he just pulled himself closer to me and hugged me around my waist. Much more familiar than Limbo alone acted.

And Rhino is walking to the arsenal. Why? There's no reason to put Limbo out of his misery or anything. He already has an executioner's ax on his back, anyways. And we can't send Limbo into battle, not in his state. What is-

Something heavy just thumped on the floor. I'm going to take a look.

Okay. Turns out Rhino wasn't looking to hurt Limbo. I also found Frost, he's all huddled in a corner, alternating between scratching at himself and scribbling on a tablet. Which is... not a good sign. I thought we were past this. I don't want to deal with Frost relapsing _and_ Limbo in pain and unable to move.

Back to Rhino. What I'd heard was him turning the Fragor upside down and letting it fall on the floor. I guess he was testing its viability as a cane. I demonstrated to him that it's too heavy for Limbo to use as an every day mobility device, not to mention how big it is. He nodded slowly, put the Fragor back, and instead took out one of the many daggers we have. I didn't realize how many we had until a couple days ago. We don't use them. It's ridiculous.

The plan, though... it's really quite a clever. We managed to get Limbo to lie flat long enough to take some measurements, and I believe there's someone down in Cetus who could help us make what we need. Rhino will stay behind to watch Frost and Limbo, since he can keep the former down if he starts acting up and can move the latter with ease. I've given him as much advice as I can on handling Frost in this state, though I suspect the Operator will spend a lot of time linked with Rhino, negating that. I will take the Dark Dagger Limbo likes and put the plan into action.

It shouldn't be hard. I hear cane swords have become quite popular among the dapper sorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have waited so long to post this. I've got a couple more introductions waiting further on down the line. The plans I have for them...


	17. Cetus

Dear Journal,

I'm in Cetus, enjoying the fresh air. I even have photo evidence of this I took to show Ordis, look:

Hok agreed to take on the cane sword project, as well as a couple leg braces. I figure it would be best to make sure anything still healing in there doesn't get messed up. Thankfully, Limbo seems capable of using his left leg much more than the right one, so I think we'll only need the one cane. Ordis has been writing updates.

So many updates.

Whatever the problem was, it ran deep. It's not healing as fast as the injuries we usually face do, and Ordis doesn't know if it's because the chassis or systems themselves are affected or if it's because Limbo is so new. None of us have sustained injuries that deep, we don't have anything to compare to.

Frost is also being difficult. Polar Bear's being kept in a locked room away from him, and Rhino had to literally sit on him for a while to keep him from causing trouble. Which sounds funny, but also concerning. Frost hasn't reacted like this when panicked in a long time. I think he's scared for Limbo. He didn't do this when we got Rhino, nor when Valkyr visited, which gives me hope. It would be much harder if the problem was us bringing Limbo in. I've found literature that suggests whatever proto-frame they created the Frost model from was territorial beyond normal, and that trait _is_ how we ended up with ours in the first place.

I hope Rhino can handle him. Ordis told me to enjoy the vacation, but it's hard when I'm so worried about everyone back home. There's the puppy to worry about, and Limbo to worry about, and Frost to worry about, and Ordis. And Rhino, too, I guess, but I think without a full-on Tenno mode power boost I don't think anyone there could hurt him more than emotionally. I have the full-on Tenno mode now.

But it's gonna be a couple days and I won't be able to go back and help anyone.

I brought my keyboard along. Maybe I'll practice to try and relax. Hopefully there won't be any Octavias who think I'm butting into their territory.


	18. Peace

Dear Journal,

Frost is now locked in a back room while everyone else gets free roam in the ship. Ordis said Polar Bear never looked happier, running around barking at everything. Ordis also reported finding some helpful information on physical therapy, but now Cephalon Simaris is bothering him to “give him access to the data.”

He did say Limbo has been good about doing all the exercises he found, and Rhino has been helping. Then again, what is there to do aboard the Orbiter? I've never seen Rhino sign, so Limbo doesn't have anyone to teach him that.

Well, I guess he and Ordis could have math competitions or something.

It's been nice on Cetus. I haven't gotten involved in any Eidolon hunts, I didn't come here ready for any of those. Besides, everyone wants tanks and healers.

I have taken a few walks around the plains, killing any Grineer I happen across. As I sit here and write I actually have a fishing pole I bought last evening stuck in the ground beside me, and a few corpses at a nearby encampment. It's pretty calm today, a few others have come and gone. I haven't caught many fish, but that's okay. I'm not using them to pay back Hok, though I might give him first pick at the catch as thanks.

I think I'm finally relaxing. I enjoy feeling the grass between my toes, the sun on my back, the cool breeze blowing in. I'm keeping an eye out for Grineer but there's nothing I can't handle around here, and I don't feel tense like I'm on a mission.

Things are good, journal.


	19. Eidolon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In celebration of the Sacrifice coming out this week supposedly please DE, I'm doubling my usual and posting four whole chapters! Seriously. I have a ton. And they're still pretty short.
> 
> More importantly, scarf son soon please DE I must help him.

Dear Journal,

Things are not good.

I stayed too late and got chased into a cave by an Eidolon. I haven't seen nor heard any sign of a hunting crew, and I don't have enough arrows to even make a dent in that thing. I'm writing by my light, facing a corner so it's not as visible.

I just crept out closer to the entrance. The Eidolon is still there, prowling around. It's too close for me to run out and call Ordis for pickup. It's too close for me to run back to town, and I'd lead it back anyways.

I'm back in the corner. Okay, maybe I'm less scared of the Eidolon than I am of the little things following it around. If they see me, they can get in and corner me. I think I'm trapped here until a hunting crew comes up or the sun rises and it leaves. You know, for all the talk people make about forming a hunting party, they don't seem to be around tonight, huh?

I am so bored.

I tried sleeping. The Eidolon is stressing me out too much to sleep, but it's not actively pursuing me, so I'm not focused on anything.

Let me go, please, Eidolon. I'm not hunting you.


	20. Mesa

Dear Journal,

Not long after I wrote the last entry I heard a fight and a Mesa darted into the cave. She tipped her hat to me and held a hand out for me to follow her.

I shot a few arrows into the Eidolon as revenge. Mesa pulled her guns and bam, she was getting every little soft spot on that thing. She looked as cool and calm as anything. She even glanced back at me once she needed to reload and spun her weapons around her hand and posed a bit.

The Trinity in the party waved to us before getting back to work. I think there was a Rhino charging around hitting it, too. I don't know where their fourth person was.

I'm sitting on the roof again. It's morning. I lost all my fish and my fishing pole while running from the Eidolon, and it's too late to go out again. Hok said he should be done by this afternoon. Until then, I'm watching out for that Mesa. I should thank her for helping me. I can't give her any fish or anything. Maybe I can get her contact information and see if there's any Prime parts she's looking for that I can get to her.

I wonder if she'd be interested in joining the band, too. We can always use more instruments. I think we need a drummer, maybe. I don't know if Limbo will be up for it.

Maybe

I found her! We traded contact information and she promised to tell me if there's anything she's looking for.

I should go see how Hok is doing.


	21. Bracing

Dear Journal,

It's evening on the Orbiter. The first thing I had to do when I got back was go visit Frost. The Operator managed to calm him, and I think they're working together right now. Frost isn't acting as ridiculous as usual.

Rhino, Limbo, and Polar Bear were all napping together when I found them. I'm not sure which one of them fell asleep first, but Rhino was flat on his back, sprawled out, with Limbo curled up around Polar Bear at his side. I wrote to Mesa with an inventory of our spare Prime blueprints and put my keyboard back in its place before they stirred.

Rhino helped Limbo up before I gave him Hok's creations. He was so delighted! I started with the braces and let him get those on first before giving him the cane. He took a few minutes to check out the braces, testing the fit, rolling his ankles, and bouncing his legs as much as he could. The incisions look better than they did when I was here last, that's for sure.

I swear he almost vibrated into the Rift out of excitement when I gave him the cane. Hok did a fantastic job, it's a simple style but it looks good. Limbo is fancy-looking enough, he doesn't need anything clashing with him. Limbo drew the dagger and tested a few strikes with it, put it back in the cane and shook it around to make sure it wouldn't fall out (it didn't), and finally tried getting up.

He managed to take a step on his own. He faltered, and Rhino and I supported him through a few more steps. His left leg still isn't quite up to the task of supporting his weight for very long, but progress is progress! Rhino doesn't seem to mind carrying him around, or giving Limbo a ride on his back. I can't imagine being pressed against the complex metal decorations on the top of his syandana is very comfortable, though.

I hope we got the leg braces on in time before anything healed wrong.


	22. PT

Dear Journal,

I've been out a few more times. We're back near a relay, partially to meet with Valkyr and get more band practice in, partially to give us all some time to rest and recuperate. The Operator has been with Frost almost the entire time, except when I go out on missions. Even then, they're quick. He's doing much better, and today we're tentatively leaving him on his own, but we're still keeping Polar Bear away from him. He's been teaching Limbo his sign language, the two sitting together near the mod station so Limbo has something to lean on.

We've all been helping Limbo adjust to walking. I did some research – Limbos aren't exactly slow frames. I feel bad for him, it must be miserable, being in pain, barely managing to hobble.

I've also been researching how much physical therapy someone who's not, you know, a warframe, needs for similar injuries. It's... stunning. Limbo might be lucky, our healing factor means he's improving at a much faster rate than the weeks of therapy imply for others. We're – well, I'm still concerned things may heal out of place, I don't know how worried the boys are. Ordis at least seems to mutter something about it every once in a while. Frost offers to cool the incisions every once in a while, and Limbo enjoys it, the cold really seems to help the pain. Rhino keeps an eye on everything, as usual.

And plays with the puppy. My goodness, Rhino adores her. I think she behaves better for him than the rest of us, too.

I think Valkyr's found the ship. I'm going to go meet her.


	23. Audience

Dear Journal,

We had an audience of two today! Limbo managed to find some sheet music online and insisted we play it. I think it was meant for a different setup, it didn't sound quite right with our instruments. Or maybe we're just not good yet.

After all, we had to look up some resources on reading sheet music again.

He seemed to enjoy it anyways, sitting in front of us and swaying to the music. Polar Bear piled into his lap, ear twitching occasionally. I think she liked it, too, or the particulars did not enter into her untroubled kubrow mind.

Valkyr is getting more confident as a vocalist, too. Which is good, she doesn't have an instrument as backup. Rhino is trying to teach her how to play his acoustic guitar right now, though.

She and Limbo also got the chance to introduce themselves. I think she was more interested in his cane than in him, and he did let her check it out. They both signed some basic sentences to each other, names and “How are you”s and responses, but I could tell they were looking beyond the hands alone. Limbo's injuries aren't nearly as obvious as Valkyr's, but they're visible. Her gaze lingered on the incisions, claws clicking together. His baseline must be from before Alad V's experiments, he kept looking from the remaining plate on her face down to everything else. All the red flesh.

Thankfully, he had enough tact not to ask why someone who once looked to be carved of crystal was now walking body horror. One point Limbo has above Frost.

Right now, though, they're across the ship from each other. I'm sitting in the middle, listening to Rhino and Valkyr playing up at the bridge and watching Frost help Limbo walk around down by Helminth's room, and those other two doors. They never open for us.

No Limbo don't-

I don't know what possessed him to try dancing like _that_ in particular but it ended with him flat on the floor. “What a genius,” Ordis says of him and his theory. “What were you thinking?” he says now, voice rising with every syllable.

I mean, this is relatively nothing compared to the bullheaded rift walk that got his baseline killed.

Theory: for once, we actually got a frame that acts like the baseline. For once, that isn't for the best.


	24. Celebration

Dear Journal,

Sometimes, about once every few months, I wonder why I don't revert my chromatophores back to my original colors. Then I do, look in a mirror, and go set them back to my usual dark blue.

So, I should be set for the next few months. Hopefully, I won't get the _brilliant_ idea to switch to a primarily orange color scheme again. My Mars phase was... bad.

Hold on, I'm on Nidus-finding duty. We're giving it one more shot before we leave the relay.

Success! He's sitting in with Helminth now. Frost is checking the information on different syndicates, seeing if any may be willing to help us out with Limbo. Rhino's sitting at the bridge, listening to something the Lotus is saying. She sounds concerned, but she usually does. Limbo

Fell again. I'm letting him sit next to me. Really, Limbo, you've been making great progress, I'm proud

Hi hi it's Limbo I am writing and fighting Mag is trying to drag me away fuc~-

You know what? He can stay on the floor.

I swear I left him his cane. Ordis is mad at us anyways. Oh, looks like the Nidus is finishing up. I'm gonna talk to him and Limbo I swear if you take this again I will kill you in both dimensions.

I should get myself one of these I could write _equations_ in it!

You know, even Frost doesn't do this. _Frost!_

Anyways, Nidus says the problem was some defect in the chassis Helminth didn't detect until too late. It may be a corrupted blueprint, but we don't have them any more, so we may never know. He tried to correct, but he could only do so much. At this point, Limbo's going to have a permanent limp. All we can do is mitigate. Even then, the braces are coming to the end of their usefulness. He's able to support more and more of his own weight, and he'll eventually reach the point he doesn't have to wear them on a regular basis.

It's usually quiet on the ship. But now it's a more solemn silence. Limbo's head is bowed, he's tapping the top of his cane. Frost stopped his search, he's staring at Nidus like he's going to laugh and say it's all a joke. Rhino... he's not paying attention to us. Lotus is still talking to him.

I thanked Nidus for his work and paid him as agreed. Thankfully, he was willing to work for credits, not platinum. We gave him a Prime blueprint he wanted anyways.

Limbo's up again. He's leaning hard on his cane, but he keeps signing _music_ at Frost. I think the three of us are having a little dance party. Make that four with Polar Bear. Well, I guess we did just get some answers. That's worth celebrating, isn't it?


	25. Insecure

Dear Journal,

It's evening. Frost and Limbo crashed hard after the party, they're sleeping early. Polar Bear's with me, asleep. Rhino finished talking to the Lotus and headed out immediately. Something in the way he walked felt deadly serious. Considering what happened last time, I'm worried. Is the Lotus' past coming back for her again? I thought we'd handled that Sentient.

What are we going to do if he comes after us on the Orbiter? Only Frost has access to his powers without the Operator's focus. We all have access to weapons, no shortage of those, but I feel defenseless like this.

I can't keep them safe here.

This is more stressful than the Eidolon incident. Worse yet, I know Rhino won't report in until he's done, no matter how long it takes. The Operator can't override that part of his personality. I tried to contact the Lotus but she isn't taking hails. Ordis says he doesn't know much, besides that Rhino needs the archwing and the Liset. Which means we're stuck here until we get access to one or both of those.

We have a whole solar system to hide in and none of it feels safe.

What can I do for all them? We are Tenno, respected and feared and loathed throughout the system. And right now, I feel so small.

Ordis says he understands. Thank you, Ordis. I hope we can take this on together.


	26. Babysitting

Dear Journal,

Frost and Limbo are getting antsy. None of us can leave the Orbiter. Even if we had some way to get out, we'd be lost if we tried. I don't know how to describe it.

Ordis isn't chatting like usual. A few hours ago he said a terse, “The Operator needs me,” and hasn't spoken up since. He'll go quiet when we're resting, but we're all wide awake. Frost and Limbo weren't able to sleep well, either. Granted, Limbo tried to pile on top of Frost.

I want to talk to someone. We're running as quiet as we can, just in case, so that's not going to happen. I've been trying to comfort Limbo and Frost, but I don't know what to tell them. I don't know where the Operator is. I don't know what's going on with the Lotus. I don't know how long we should wait. Wait for what? If the Operator dies, we'll go feral, and Frost will probably kill the two of us. I know he's worried about it, he's been so careful with anything he touches. If Rhino dies, the Operator will probably snap into one of us, and we'll be without our all-purpose tank. Without our brother.

I'll see if I can distract them. You use math in creating music, yes? Maybe if Frost and I play our instruments, and Limbo comes up with some music for us, we can do _something_ while we're alone here.


	27. Dread

Dear Journal,

It worked, to a degree. I hadn't realized, but Frost was stress-freezing anything near him. Playing the bass helped him concentrate enough that he's got a miniature flurry around him, but nothing more severe than that. Nothing's sticking now. The icy patches are sublimating slowly, we're making sure to avoid them and keep Polar Bear in a room Frost wasn't in. Poor thing's been sneezing so much. The air still feels pretty dry, but it's getting better. I can't believe I didn't notice the signs.

For better or for worse, the situation has made Limbo realize the importance of keeping Frost in particular calm. Letting a Prime's power run loose isn't going to do us much good. He may not be as strong without the Operator, but something is more than nothing. So, Limbo's recruited Frost and exclusively Frost to help him with physical therapy sorts of things. They've also been working on the conlang project, Limbo keeps positing equations and theories and concepts even I don't know, but he's happy to explain. They're sitting at a console, writing everything out. A little education can't hurt, I figure.

If only Ordis were here. He'd enjoy the conversation.

It's been a day since my last entry. We still haven't heard anything from the Operator, or from Ordis. The Orbiter's systems are still active and running just fine, so I don't think Ordis is in trouble. I miss them all, though.

Apparently everyone, starting with Polar Bear, decided I'd make the best person to nap on today. Considering how poorly we've all been sleeping and how little else there is to do, midday naps may end up a new habit. Even Polar Bear can't sleep, her favorite frame has been gone too long.

...Something doesn't feel right. I'm going to wake everyone up and move them belowdecks. I can't figure it out, I just feel on edge.

Okay. Everyone's belowdecks. I'm still the epicenter of the nap pile, but that's okay. They didn't question it when I grabbed my bow first.

If something happens to us, and you are here to find the answers, I am sorry. I have none. If you are Rhino and the Operator, thank you so much for being our companions.

Something feels


	28. Bad Day

Blood everywhere and Rhino's hurt he's in with Helminth and Lotus was here and the Stalker the ship was breached and I didn't know it all hurt so much I couldn't do anything I felt dead

 _Stay here,_ Frost signs well what am I supposed to fucking _do_ when we're not safe! Were we ever safe? How's he going to clean it all up how can he manage he couldn't even handle Limbo's issues

Ordis found the sword the Stalker impaled Rhino with fuck him fuck the Stalker fuck Hunhow I just want things to be okay again.


	29. Operator

Dear Journal,

She's so small.

The Operator, that is. I feel like I should have known this, she and I have been one and the same before. But... she didn't know, either. She wasn't herself is how she explained it. She _was_ us. No wonder she didn't remember the old war, she couldn't even remember she existed. Her name is Inau Rho, and she is one of the children of the Zariman Ten Zero Project.

Rhino is doing better. He's off mission duty for a while at Ordis and the Lotus' behest, and for good reason. He looks listless in a way I haven't seen him before. That sword went straight through him, we're just hoping he won't be damaged to the point he can't fight. But yes, one of the first things Inau asked when the Lotus was done speaking with her, and Frost, Limbo, and I entered, was if everyone was okay.

I'm afraid I was still shaking at that point. I'm not even sure how we moved Rhino. I think fear gave us the strength.

The Lotus informed us she will be telling other Tenno to retrieve their Operators from Lua. With it out of the Void, where Hunhow and other Sentients can reach it, they are at risk. She doesn't want to lose a single one of her children. Pulling a planet out of the Void... no wonder Inau, Rhino, and Ordis were quiet for so long.

Inau told us everything that happened while we were unconscious. She broke the somatic link when Rhino opened her pod, and the shock and sudden loss of her energy or presence at all took us out. Not too long, or we would've woken and been feral. At some point, Stalker got aboard the ship. I don't know how or when, but I'm so glad we stayed belowdecks. He tried to strangle her after stabbing Rhino, but Rhino broke War and, needless to say, the Stalker failed his mission. None of us know where he could have gone, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Frost swore to get his revenge. More specifically, he signed something along the lines of _I'm going to kick his ass so hard he actually has an asshole and punch him in the face, throat, and gut so hard Rhino couldn't match the force and then I will bite him. I will bite his arm off and eat his shoulder. He will die very painfully. Asshole._

He continued for a while, but eventually ran low on insults. I think he's sitting by ~~the Operator~~ Inau's chair, either sleeping or on guard.

Transference should maintain her needs, Ordis promised she would be okay there. We're thinking of putting her on a regimen like Limbo's so she can explore the Orbiter some more. He got all excited. _I will show you how to dance!_ and all that. Which, well, we're going to be careful about that for the next... forever, approximately.

I should go check on Rhino. He's growling at something.

(It was pain. I think he's mad at it.)


	30. Awake

Dear Journal,

It's been a long day. ~~The Operator~~ Inau took me and Frost out on a couple missions just to keep the stress of isolation at bay. She's also considering a good time to take Limbo planetside, or to a relay. He's been walking around the Orbiter for longer periods of time and trying to rope one of us into helping him be more active more often.

The strange thing is, now that she's here on the Orbiter, she seems to have found more of her strength. Maybe it comes with actually being awake, and not living as us in her dreams. After I cleaned up post-mission, I sat in with her.

“Hey Mag,” she said, “You wanna try two of you going to a relay at once? I think I could do it. Just enough for you two to really go as you.”

I nodded. Visiting a relay as myself 100 percent sounded intriguing. It was always one of us at a time, the rest of us staying back and taking it easy (as easy as it gets around here) back on the Orbiter, closer to the transference relay.

“You promise you're okay?” She reached down to touch the side of my face. Her fingers shook, she's all skin and bones. Even her voice is thin and reedy and... young.

I nodded again. For a second she looked so afraid, and I didn't want her to worry. She's already seen so much, though. We all have. It feels strange to have someone so small to worry over. This is nothing like the vague concept of an Operator I'd had.

She started falling asleep eventually. She does that a lot. But every time, she says, “I don't want to sleep again.”

And Ordis responds, “It is necessary, Operator. We shall be here.”

I hope we can wake her if we need to.


	31. Company

Dear Journal,

We're back at the Larunda relay. Today, Limbo and I went out on a walk. Tomorrow Inau plans on sending Frost and Rhino out – I don't know if she thinks they'll keep each other in check or what, but I don't think they'll be well received. They just have that sort of personality.

Limbo had a good time, though, and so did I. A warframe using a cane (and leg braces, we're keeping him in those a little longer) isn't exactly a common sight. We got a lot of looks, both from visiting Tenno and from locals. He joked that they were all jealous of his hat.

We did take a number of short breaks. We used them for people watching. Limbo and I would nudge each other and point to any particularly well-styled frames or any particularly hideous color combinations. We did see a Rhino Prime, and I thought the awe was going to send Limbo's hat flying off into the hull. This one composed himself with some serious gravitas. I mean, he only had a Fragor Prime, and every move he made screamed “this is all I need to deal with anything in my way.” I don't think Limbo ever expected a Rhino to act differently from Princess Rhino.

A couple other Limbos showed up at some point. They had things to do, I guess, and zipped around all over the place. Our Limbo watched them and, after they passed by, signed, _Their blueprints were fine._

How could I respond, really? I drummed on my arm for a while, thinking on that. In the end, all I said was _Yes._

He did nothing, too, for a long time. I think the other Limbos passed us by again by the time he responded with, _I'll get creative. I am a scientist first, a person of reason and ration._

 _I'll keep that in mind when you sit on top of Frost and let Rhino lift you so high you hit the ceiling again._ Jackasses.

We explored areas of the station I had never really bothered to go to. I'd thought the music store was out of the way, oh no, Limbo found his way to places I'd never think of. We started seeing residences, of all things. I'd been in Grineer bunk rooms, but never a home like those. Certainly never as a guest.

He seemed to like it. And it was nice, being somewhere more laid back than the part of the relay Tenno frequent. We got more stares from the few people out and about, but they weren't all focused on Limbo.

Then some kids ran up to us. Kids! I don't know how old they were, they were a little under half my height. One girl, who stood at the front of their pack, approached us with her face all red. She had her hands behind her back and the other kids kept whispering to her until she asked, “Are you a magician?”

Limbo and I didn't know what to do. It's not like we keep anything on hand for magic tricks, unless the trick is related to a fight. But he straightened up, dusted himself off, and I felt the Operator's energy fade from me. Everything became a dreamy haze and I had to keep what I could focused on not doing anything... feral... but I managed to catch Limbo stepping forwards and looking strange afterwards.

The Operator's energy redistributed at that point and I felt back to normal. While the rift portal behind him closed, Limbo gestured for me to come over and drew his dagger. He stabbed through my chest, which felt strange, but I wasn't hurt. The kids were amazed, they shrieked and got all excited when I was okay. As for Limbo's part, he looked absolutely delighted, even when the lack of the Operator's energy made him exit the Rift and he became part of our dimension. Thankfully, with his dagger back in its sheath.

I don't know how exactly he avoids damage while still being physical. He tried to explain it later, when we were home. I swear, the equations would make a Cephalon cry.

I got my chance to perform some 'magic' for them, too. Once solid again, Limbo posed, pointing at me with both hands. I tossed a spare arrow in the air and pulled it back. You know, actually trying to concentrate and only pull in the one thing is rather difficult. Necessary, though, when you're around kids.

...Okay. Looking back, I wrote a lot. In short: kids were happy, we didn't want to risk doing much else, we waved goodbye and booked it back to the Orbiter. Goodness, how did I write this much?


	32. Shoulder

Dear Journal,

Frost and Rhino are out, presumably tearing up the relay. The poor residents won't know what hit them. I think they managed to get in contact with Valkyr, which will add a fun new dimension to their shenanigans. I honestly do not know if she'll keep them in check or exacerbate things. Frost at least gets a little more demure around her.

Limbo and I are having a nice quiet day on the Orbiter. Polar Bear's napping up on the bridge, even, and Limbo has been playing with her when she's up and about. Ordis has been very polite about it when we try to teach her fetch. I don't think he likes the sound of her nails on the floor, he keeps muttering his calculations and such out loud while she's running. He also asked if we could get an actual pet toy for her instead of tossing a spare arrow for her. We got him to pass the message on to Frost and Rhino.

I think I hear them coming back.

It was them. They brought Valkyr with; poor thing looked awful. She was all shaky and holding herself, digging her claws into her arms. For once, she stuck closer to Frost than Rhino. Speaking of, Rhino and Valkyr have been sitting belowdecks for a while now.

I must admit, I snuck down to see what they were up to. Whatever was wrong, it seemed to do with the healing wound on Rhino's chest. She gestured to it then to herself a few times. I guess she got ahold of something to write on at some point, she was scrawling on it so hard I heard the stylus running across the screen. Rhino didn't seem to be doing much anything besides listening.

It must be hard, being created from the last moments of a tortured frame. Yourself and everyone like you suffering because the only known baseline was hurt so horribly. I guess it must be the sort of thing that meeting up to play music every once in a while doesn't suffice for.

Frost and Limbo noticed something's wrong. Frost got a deck of cards, props or a children's toy of some sort I believe, while he was out, and they're playing something. But they keep looking back, as if they're waiting for Rhino and Valkyr.

I'm going to join their game and see if I can distract them.


	33. Tough Guy

Dear Journal,

We helped Valkyr retrieve her Operator. When we got back Inau said she swore Valkyr's Operator looked familiar, but she didn't recognize the name. Rhino went out for the task, he's been itching to leave the Orbiter. I suppose he knows how we feel now, doesn't he? But he's been injured, and he's doing far better now. Inau thinks he's ready for regular duty again.

What the fuck did the Orokin make and breed him from? He got impaled! With a big fucking sword! One with a Sentient inhabiting it! Then he broke it and ripped it out of his chest so he could go scare the Stalker away from Inau! No wonder Stalker disappeared. If I were in his position I would be... I believe the term is “shitting bricks.” I'd have shat enough that all of us could build a nice little cottage near Cetus.

Thinking of regular duty, since we were on Lua, ~~the Operator~~ Inau decided we should head to Earth and let Limbo try his hand at a couple missions. He's out right now, taking on a basic extermination mission. We sent Rhino's little camera drone with him and oh my goodness it's so stressful watching. He's doing well, though. Most of the time he sets up and shoots from afar, and that's been going swimmingly. I'm so glad we gave him the Vulkar. Then, whenever he finishes an area, he gets up and strolls over until he gathers more attention.

Oh no he had to sit down and someone approached. But! He stabbed them! Oh, that's a lot of stabbing. No, Grineer don't go down easily, do they?

I'm sure he enjoys the fact he can Rift Walk and ignore everyone shooting at him, what with the not being a tank and the mobility issues and all. I swear he's trying to dance around all these pissed off Grineer. Look at that nonsense.

Oh, goodness.

For future reference, he bowed and tipped his hat to a ballista who tried to slug him in the face.

You know what? I see why he died. We definitely have a personality match for the baseline.

Damn it.


	34. Dissonance

Dear Journal,

There's a boil near Cetus again. There's plenty of other Tenno handling the toxin issue, and we don't quite know what to do about it ourselves, so we're avoiding the problem and feeling guilty every time the Lotus puts out another call to arms.

Limbo's been out on his own a few more times. He's found a particular affinity for spy missions; apparently he can just walk through lasers. Yep. Walk right through them. Guess I won't be the stealth frame any more. Not that I was particularly good at it, I admit. You know what? He can have the job. I don't want to listen to one more “Alarms!” again in my life.

While Limbo acclimates to Tenno life, the remaining boys and I have been practicing our instruments. Frost is, for whatever reason, determined to master some metal ballad that sounds too fast for anything tied to this physical plane to accomplish. Rhino and I, on the other hand, have found music that could soothe most any temper and almost put me to sleep on one occasion. More than that, it was Rhino's idea to play them. He gave me the sheet music not long after demonstrating to Limbo how to properly cleave someone in half.

I swear I understand him less and less every day.

I also swear it's a miracle that Limbo can lift the Scindo Prime at all, let alone _try_ to swing it at the demonstrated angle. It's wider across than he is.

Rhino playing soft music. Limbo lifting the Scindo Prime. Me no longer doing the spy missions. What a strange world we live in.

I went to go sit with Inau and discuss matters with her. She laughed when I mentioned Rhino's musical tastes; she had lived in his head for so long, what we loved had become second nature to her. I think she found it more surprising that, separate, we didn't know each other so deeply. Not like I'm the one supplying the intricate knowledge of Rhino's psyche during Transference. I have to admit, I'm curious what goes on in his mind.

I asked. Inau made a scrunchy face and said she couldn't really put words to it. I suggested 'unfathomable.' She gazed off into the distance and hummed, brows drawn contemplation far more serious than her youth would suggest she was capable of.

Perhaps a better word would be 'eldritch,' then.

Goodness. I got interrupted. We have Inau and Limbo on the same physical therapy schedule. They encourage each other, it's kind of adorable. They try to dance together, though sometimes Frost, Rhino, or I have to cut in when they need more support.

Which reminds me, the one time Frost tried to do so for Inau was... quite something. I guess she forgot he's so cold, and Limbo's growing immune, so he didn't stop him, either. They were both wavering, so Frost stepped up. Limbo looked up and spun Inau over so Frost could catch her. He did so, but she yelped and, instead of performing a standard fight or flight response, fell to the floor.

We gathered around all worried, but with Rhino's help she got up. She apologized so much, and so did Frost, and she almost went in to hug him as if she had not literally fallen from how cold he was a minute ago, or inhabit his body sometimes.

She's looking over my shoulder like this is not a private document and keeps saying, “Maggie, don't write that down, it was embarrassing.” I think I will end this entry. However, I would like to reaffirm that I am writing in ink, I can't do much in the way of erasing. Sorry, Inau.


	35. Career

Dear Journal,

It's been busy lately. Mostly for Limbo. He's determined to get to our level, be just as strong as Frost and Rhino and I. It isn't easy, considering how careful he needs to be with missions, but he and Inau work well together. In terms of shooting and stabbing, that is. They both have a hard time working with Limbo's abilities. They described it as Limbo understanding how they work on a level too abstract for Inau to really comprehend, even if the two share mind and body. She's also heard from others that one shouldn't use his abilities unless they are set up in a specific way with mods we don't own, so she doesn't practice with them often. All except Rift Walk.

Since Limbo needs time to recover in between sets of missions that he should probably be breaking up more, the rest of us have also gone out often. I must say, we're building up a lot of resources. So, so many Prime blueprints. So many. I have killed so many corrupted enemies it feels strange to see someone without that odd shimmer to them. But it earns us platinum, and that's truly what matters.

I really hope we can get that Paris Prime string at last and actually build the darned thing. I've also been switched off my bow, Inau wants to see if I can get more mileage out of my magnetization bubble with the Drakgoon. I don't much like it, I have been using bows for so long. It just feels wrong. But, it also means I don't have to deal with the Cernos.

I wonder if I can convince the Operator to get a Lenz and wreak explosive havoc on everything in sight. Though that also sounds like the exact sort of thing the boys would try to take.

Between missions, we've been trying to put together some original music for us to try. Limbo doesn't have much time to compose, but it's a perfect low-impact activity for his downtime, when he's sitting there, legs in Frost's lap, with nothing better to do. We play when we get the chance and write notes. We've all tried our hands at coming up with new music. It's actually really fun, even if I'm not quite composing masterpieces yet. Okay, maybe it's an excuse to plonk keys until something sounds nice. Do not question my methodology! To each their own!

It's times like these that make me wonder what it would be like if we weren't always fighting. Goodness, what would we even do?

I asked everyone else. Frost signed something about being a hospital's cooling unit. Personally, considering he came up with signs to express that, I think he ought to be a linguist.

Rhino just sort of nodded when I asked him. Frost cut in to suggest that he be a – okay. He didn't say anything specifically, but he jerked his head and did a dance that I guess was supposed to be provocative? It involved a lot of hip movements. Rhino chucked him into some crates for that, much to Ordis' dismay. Frost's fine. You don't have a skull that thick without some benefits.

Limbo bounced a lot when I asked. He signed stuff about teaching, maybe going more into music – though he was pretty sure the Octavias would collectively shut him out – or sticking with his tried and true love of math and physics. The mind boggles at both what he would teach and what sorts of students would take his classes.

I don't know what I would be. I don't know where I belong. I've been Inau's warframe for longer than any of the others; who would use my powers off a battlefield, and what hobbies do I have other than keeping my family from burning the Orbiter to the ground? And journaling about all that?

Inau managed to get her way to the door to ask what was up. Apparently she'd been sleeping but she woke up when she felt Rhino and Frost's altercation. Once she confirmed everyone was okay (she gave Rhino a pout, Frost hitting the crates did hurt, but high-fived him for a good throw) she sat down with us and tried not to fall asleep again. She's afraid that, out of the chair, she wouldn't be able to maintain any form of Transference if she slept. As it is, we don't like being in a different room than her when she's out of the chair.

So, I asked her what she would do, if there wasn't any fighting. What kind of life would she want to make?

And she cried.

We huddled with her faster than I think we knew what we were doing. All of a sudden she was sitting in Rhino's lap and hugging him and sobbing while we all gathered close. Limbo and I were practically on top of her. I felt the Void's strange crackle coming off her, the buzz of Transference almost audible. I don't know if it was empathy or sympathy or Transference flowing back that stuck a hand in my stomach and squeezed whatever it found.

She hadn't even caught her breath when she said, “Nobody's ever asked me that.”

She talked about when she was really little, not even ten, and remembering what she wanted to be. A mom, because her mom was so cool. An actor, like all the people in the shows. A cook because she loved food. There were so many options out there and she'd barely scratched the surface, as she'd come to find out.

But the Orokin made that choice for her. Once a Tenno, forever a Tenno. The eldest weren't quite in their teens when they all became orphan soldiers, and she wasn't even that old. The only chance she got to mourn her parents was a little vigil the kids held in secret. Then it was training, training, training. All this on killing Sentients and the Infested. Then came warframes.

I don't remember meeting her. Not really. It's all vague impressions. She said my mind was much quieter then, and all the Tenno kids talked about it later, they compared us to babies. Babies that looked very uncomfortably older than them. As much as I love Rhino, and as nice as every Saryn I've met has been, it's strange to remember their baselines were given to prepubescent children. Yes, to a degree, we were bred. From what, I don't know any more, all I've heard is the tale of what would eventually become Rhino Prime devouring people and stopping in its tracks upon encountering the children. But more than that, we were designed, baby-minded adult bodies puppeteered by kids.

Stars, no wonder Rhino turned himself pink and gold and called himself a princess. We're all the childhood she has left.


	36. Movie Night

Dear Journal,

It was a long night. We got Inau back to the chair and Ordis promised to watch her as vigilant as always. I trust him to do so, but the four of us still took shifts sitting by her during the night. We needed to. Her emotional fluxes, sleeping or awake, were strong enough we all felt them. During my shift, she woke up crying. I put Polar Bear in her lap and let her hug me until she fell asleep again.

She took Limbo out on a mission in the morning and I tried not to think of him at the front of a classroom, tapping equations with his cane, teaching Inau's math class.

I wanted us to be happy again, so when he got back I asked Inau a few questions. She said sure, so now we're headed to Larunda to meet up with Valkyr and with Inau's friend, the one with the Excalibur who needed help getting the archwing. We're going to have a movie night. The movie of choice is a comedy about this Corpus boy who ends up in this little village, meets a local boy, and everyone learns the magic of friendship and grofit.

I'm back, everyone else is asleep. I got distracted by setting up and actually watching the movie. It's terrible. I had such a hard time looking from the screen to everyone's hands as they heckled it. I think it worked, though. Inau laughed and smiled, be it at the movie's ridiculousness or our commentary. Excalibur flailed around on the floor, I think to express amusement. Even Valkyr relaxed.

After the movie ended we just... had fun. Since Valkyr's here, we had a jam session. Excalibur, Inau, and Limbo tried to dance along, but couldn't agree on what type of dance they needed. Valkyr made some notes to the music we've been composing afterwards, but in the moment, she sung her heart out. I enjoy playing the keyboard but right then it felt so natural, like the music flowed without my input. We played until we were so exhausted we barely got everything put away before everyone passed out. Excalibur and Valkyr are spending the night here. I can still hear Ordis arguing about it with their ships' cephalons.

I'm pretty tired, too, I think I'm going to sleep.


	37. Transcendance

Dear Journal,

I know I've put you down for a while because there wasn't much to say but we just had the scare of our lives. We've been doing missions on Lua, mostly with Rhino. Inau wants to master some of the challenge rooms but doesn't trust our fellow Tenno to be much help, so that was that. But Limbo volunteered to help out; it's been hard on him, and he's had to cut missions short and accept failure on multiple occasions. He did find an easy way to handle the Sentients that keep chasing after us when we go on missions, though. He's also become good with the Vulkar.

He does still have a hard time, though. Inau took him out to Plato in the hopes of finding one of the challenge rooms he would do better than the rest of us in, the speed and stealth missions. Life's easier when you can ignore lasers and thumpers. The Oculysts spotted him, though, so he had to run from their fighters.

Then the lights flickered. Apparently Stalker remembered he wanted to get rid of us, and once again chose the least capable of us to target.

Limbo tried to run. He found a cavern where none of the usual enemies could reach him and tried to stay in the Rift. But every few seconds, Stalker found him and forced him out and hurt him. Limbo couldn't see him long enough to get a shot in.

So he stopped, and let Stalker come, and fall into his trap.

For Inau was _furious_.

She pushed through the Transference and struck home with her Void Beam. Stalker couldn't get out of the way. She and Limbo defeated him.

He fled, but maybe now he knows we're a force to be reckoned with.

Limbo finished the mission and returned home to our version of a hero's welcome. I hugged him, once for me and once for Inau. Frost picked him up and spun him around. Rhino chest bumped him. He hit the floor hard at that.

After a second, Limbo declared it his new home. The physical effort of a mission is a lot on him. Running from Stalker long enough for Inau to prepare herself, getting hit all the while, meant it's a miracle he managed to walk back into the Orbiter at all.

Right now, Frost's sitting with him. Limbo's sleeping in his lap, twisted so all the old incisions are as close to the cold source as possible. It looks super uncomfortable, I don't know how he's still asleep. Or how Frost is being patient enough to sit there.

Never mind, they're both asleep. Frost didn't try to trip Rhino when he walked past.

You know what's very hard? Writing around a kubrow puppy. Polar Bear looked at the boys and thought it was naptime.

Another thing about Stalker: Inau, when she was telling the story, said he looked strange. Like he had more smoke to him than before. He also had the sword he used against Rhino. When Limbo tried to slice him with his dagger, he didn't feel as solid as when he and Frost fought.

Hunhow did something after Stalker failed to kill Inau. I don't know what, but something happened when he disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	38. Teshin!

Dear Journal,

Lotus called upon us for assistance again. We found Lua and saved the Operators, after all, I guess she trusts us with big tasks. Inau took Rhino back to the Resevoir to look for the sentries she put up, I guess they went quiet. Most, if not all, the Operators were evacuated, there shouldn't be anyone vulnerable left. Hopefully it was just some raiders who got lucky once.

Rhino's back. It was not. We all went to Inau looking for her to explain what happened, since it wasn't like Rhino would say anything. Her face was all red and angry, and she said she found Teshin. She didn't know what he was doing but he was being “more of an ass than usual,” and kept calling her a child.

I mean, technically he's right. She's not an adult, that's for sure. But she has also been a soldier for years, even if we all took a long nap.

And, of course, Teshin is working for the Twin Queens – who are _not_ Grineer propaganda, so it seems – but more importantly, he called her a child.

So now we are seeking him out. The Lotus has a lead on him, I'm going out next. I only hope that Inau does not settle too heavy into the habits she picked up with Rhino.

I don't know what we'll find at the end of this. I'm not sure if we want to know. It got us something good last time, but our luck has to run out eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those cinematic quests really throw you for a loop, don't they, Mag?


	39. Diary

Dear Diary,

Oh stars, it's been so long since I wrote.

It's Inau. I don't know, I just needed some sort of outlet, and Mag let me borrow this. I know all the frames know I cry, they've seen me cry, but I don't want to do this in front of them.

I feel sick. I want to go home, or at least live in some kind of nice little cabin where I never have to go to space or fight anyone ever again. I wish that letting Teshin kill someone's sister didn't feel like the moral thing to do. Even when the dead sister tried to steal my body and literally invades planets with her army of clone fascists. I wish all my friends weren't weapons.

They gave me Mag. I can't imagine living without her now, we've been together so long. I found Frost and made him a person again, and he's so good, I know it was worth it. But I chose to make Rhino and Limbo. I could choose to make more. I don't know if I want to. I want them to all be gathered around watching something funny, or the guy frames to be doing something they shouldn't (just like so many of the Tenno boys my age, if you read this, Mag, you really didn't miss anything) while Maggie gives them looks and writes in her diary. And I don't want them to do it with death and stuff hanging over our heads.

I don't know. I think I need a break from thinking about that for a moment. Something else... Uh, I know you can't do Transference yourself, Mag, so I guess like, it's funny how different the four of you feel? Like, I get swept up in all your personalities. One funny thing is you and I, we both feel 'girl' in some kind of medium depth. Maybe it's just a coincidence we're so similar, but all the boys' boy-ness feels different from each other. Or, I _think_ it's all different kinds of boy-ness? I don't know.

I don't know many things, apparently. One thing I do know: I don't want to look at a Ravenous Golden Maw ever again, that's for sure. I died so many times in that awful dream, and crunched up so many bones. I didn't think there were enough people in the world to make that many bones. Considering the Ayatan sculpture was there in the mountain, I don't want to go down and see if the cavern of bones was a figment of my imagination. Teshin and the Queens' mountain vacation into the center of the mind was not a fun trip.

I guess it was worth it. The Red Queen is dead, Teshin is free – for now, I destroyed the kuva in the scepter, but I don't trust that it's the only source – and my Transference link is stronger. I'm trying not to get too mixed up in the frames' personalities, but I want to try letting everyone run around freer.

I think we could use a walk.


	40. Ejected

Dear Journal,

We've been busy again. Adjusting, mostly. It was a major adjustment when Inau awakened, and now that she's free to explore the Orbiter, now that she _can't_ live all her life in the Transference chair. It doesn't do nearly as much for her any more, and she needs to move to keep up all the work we've done for her physical state.

We needed to get more furniture for her. We docked at a relay as soon as we could, though her suit takes care of certain biological functions. But now she has the chance to wear other clothes, and, as she said, she wants to feel more like a person, less like a weapon.

The first night, we were all getting ready to sleep. Inau slipped belowdecks. She looked so tiny, and she wrung her hands while she asked if she could stay with us. She didn't want to be alone.

Rhino was already in his spot on the floor. He opened his arms and she joined him. She could and did use him as a mattress, her head on his collar. As she was settling in she looked up and around at the rest of us, and all right, none of us wanted to ignore her. I ended up on Rhino's right, halfway on top of him. I kept an arm around Inau, and she held onto Limbo like a stuffed animal. Frost curled up at Rhino's hip, energy jets facing away from all of us. He didn't budge, even when Limbo hooked a foot through the loop of his helm.

We slept so well. Up until we got her a bed of her own set up – I know there's one in Helminth's room, but he won't open the door and Ordis said it's a medical berth anyways – she stayed with one of us. She's so warm. I know she's just as much a fighter as any of us, she's part of our minds on missions after all, but I just wanted to keep her safe.

We've also been testing our range a little more. Inau doesn't have to be in the Transference chair for us to wander out. Rhino and I went out the furthest, we explored all of Larunda together.

Two of us, going around the entire relay, without Inau in her chair. With hardly any influence from her, besides the occasional ripple of her emotions.

Limbo got too distracted practicing card tricks on folks to explore the entire relay like we did. Frost... he's a Prime. He should be able to run far and wide. But we can't trust him. He _hates_ being cooped up, but he knows what he can do. What he has done.

He's getting frustrated. Limbo tried some card tricks on him and he threw his hands up after the third try. Ordis told him multiple times to quit prowling around the Orbiter. He tried backing Rhino into a corner. Which doesn't work, it just leads to them trying to out-muscle each other.

Inau's going to try taking a walk around a remote area on Earth with him. Hopefully it'll be good for them both.


	41. Culture

Dear Journal,

It went fine. Frost and Inau returned without a fuss, and Frost looked far more upbeat. Right now we're on to more relic-cracking. Inau took Frost out for a fissure on a defense mission, and it sounds like they made some friends.

Frost's conlang project really took off. When Inau was out with Frost, still part of the team, he told us that he was actually able to sign with the others. A standard Frost and a Rhino Prime. They awoke somewhat later and much earlier than us, respectively, from our best guesses. Yet they both know.

Whatever happened to Inau, the journey she went on that strengthened her Transference, so us warframes will all be more independent. Right now signing is handy on missions but

Ordis read over my shoulder. He said, “Frost Prime may be a key element to [us warframes'] true independence, a way for Tenno to form more of your own culture.” I have to agree. As much of a jackass as he can be, he's part of something so grand. And to think it wouldn't be, if we hadn't found him, or we'd decided it was too late and killed him.

Stars and sun and moon. Even he's doing important things, being _somebody_. No wonder Inau spends so much time with him and the other guys. It can't be fun, sticking around the person who's taken up the responsibility of ensuring the place doesn't implode. Explode? Look, there's both a Limbo and a Frost Prime with their bubbles, plus Rhino can hit the ground so hard anyone caught in the shockwaves gets kicked into a different perception of time, or whatever it is. They have the potential to do all manner of awful things to the poor Orbiter.

I really need to think about where I'm sitting when I write things like that. Though Ordis had a hard time saying that no, the boys totally wouldn't do any of those things.

Either way, I think Inau fits better with them. Maybe being more independent will be a good thing for all of us. She certainly doesn't need me like she did before.


	42. Synthesis

Dear Journal,

What are we? Us warframes, I mean. What were we before? Some sort of beast who claims the Void as its home? I wonder if our ancestors would recognize us. That is, if any are left. Maybe the Orokin hunted them to extinction, trapped them all to breed into proto-warframes. Now we have a genetic bottleneck of sorts, most frames have one baseline we can use to “reproduce.” Two baselines, for frames with a known Prime.

Why was it that Excaliburs, Volts, Mags, and some Lokis were stored with their Operators? No other frame, unless we just haven't found their caches yet. What happened to everyone who used a Nekros, or Saryn, or Gara? Was the Lotus just not able to save them, or did she let them die?

Yes, I was thinking of this on my own. By coincidence, we've been dealing with something related to the matter ourselves. Simaris somehow found out about Frost's past. I don't know how, unless Frost said something he shouldn't to the wrong person online. None of the rest of us talk about it.

Simaris, Ordis, and Inau have been arguing for a good half hour now. Frost is sitting at my feet, petting Polar Bear and freezing the floor on the other side of him in an attempt to not give her frostbite. (She's a kubrow, she's hardy, but he still worries.)

I'll try to relate some of the conversation.

S: This is a rare data point, if you will not synthesize him then by all rights you should put in significant Sanctuary time with him, hunter.

O: Ordis does not think the Operator wishes to give up her warframe.

I: Ordis is right. Frost's not your data point, he's my _family_. And I'm not your hunter.

S: You agreed to work with me as part of the syndicate-

I: Because you needed help fighting Chroma! You made me join to get the synthesis scanner. It was pure manipulation.

S: A greater matter is the objective fact that not only did you tame a feral frame, but you tamed a feral Prime. The markings on his back matches the one on the Frost Prime that terrorized the mountain village. I don't believe I need to specify which one.

Okay. I pushed Frost down a bit so I could take a look at his back. I didn't see anything not on a normal Frost, I didn't understand what Simaris was talking about. Not until Frost shrugged the coat off and revealed splotches of dead chromatophores underneath. They're white, not very visible unless you have a dark color scheme. Which Frost hasn't had since Inau was able to initiate Transference with him.

O: Ordis believes the Operator knows what is best for her warframes.

I: I can ask him what he wants to do, but I'm not going to make him do anything for a bunch of trapezoids with no concept of personal space.

S: I see the matter is inconclusive. I will see you in my Sanctuary, hunter.

They've stopped for a bit. I think Simaris cut the line.

I: He doesn't listen well, does he?

O: Apparently not, Operator.

Inau came downstairs to talk to Frost about the matter. He's mostly nodding along. She doesn't want to deal with Simaris, but if Frost wants to do so, she'd stop by a relay and let him go talk to the Cephalon. He's apathetic at best, I think Simaris bringing up his past upset him. He's put in so much effort to be entirely unlike his feral self, and to be given so much attention for having been feral... I wouldn't be surprised if Inau herself marched up to Simaris to tell him she's officially leaving his syndicate for the stress.

If he's too demanding, I guess we could give him the Transference data and the videos Ordis has from when we first got Frost up until he was able to seamlessly link with Inau. It was just me back then, I had to drag this Prime in kicking and scratching, keep him locked in a back room until he calmed down, then slowly acclimate him to my presence, to Inau's Transference, to life aboard the Orbiter. All while knowing how slim the odds were that it would take.

I'll support him, whatever he chooses to do.


	43. Stalker

Dear Journal,

You wouldn't believe what happened. I cannot believe what happened. I'll start at the beginning.

Inau wanted to see how it goes when she and two frames are out of the Orbiter. We're still around Earth, so she decided to take a walk with us. She took Frost and I, to minimize the risk for him.

We landed, and Ordis reported Rhino and Limbo were doing fine. The latter was napping, which had to help.

It went well. Inau's been getting stronger, she clambered over all the giant tree roots. She's not as mobile as Frost or I, and we helped her out some, but she did a lot on her own. She clearly had fun with it, she laughed and joked about being on some kind of grand adventure. I think she's in her mid-teens maturity-wise, but she certainly didn't pass up the opportunity to act like the kid she didn't get to be. Frost got into it, too, and the two of them dragged me in.

It's so different, climbing trees for fun instead of to get a better vantage point in a fight.

But then we heard a fight. A vicious one, too. It sounded like something was hissing or shrieking, weapons striking, the choked noises a combatant makes when you strike home.

The three of us crept closer. At first I thought it was Grineer tangling with a Valkyr, or something like that.

No, it was not.

Two Stalkers fought in a clearing by a dried up waterfall. One, Frost recognized from his encounter. The other, less substantial with more smoke, wielding an intact version of the sword left in Rhino's chest, Inau recognized as the one who'd gone after Limbo. Black blood covered the foliage.

By the time we'd arrived, Shadow Stalker had the upper hand. Every time original Stalker tried to run and use his bow or knives, Shadow apparated right in front of him and cut into him. Stalker parried sometimes but Shadow overpowered him. On the rare occasions he managed to hit, Shadow didn't take nearly as much damage as Stalker took from Shadow's strikes.

I felt sick glee watching one version of Stalker destroy another. Both hated the Tenno. They'd killed warframes before, and if they got the chance, I bet they would kill Operators. Frost and Inau just got lucky. But stars and sun and moon, the sheer viciousness of it all.

Stalker's blood smeared over everything. Clumps of dirt clung to his wounds as he and Shadow wrestled.

At last, Shadow impaled Stalker's belly and, upon pulling the sword out, kicked him over the ledge.

Inau choked back a gasp.

But it was sound enough. Shadow's head snapped towards us and he teleported once, twice, into our faces.

 _”No!”_ Inau screamed. She blasted him in the chest. Tears ran down her cheeks from the bright light and the fight itself. She forced him to back off and kept blasting until he spoke.

“You cannot kill me.” Then he disappeared.

Before Frost or I could do anything Inau took off running. She found a tunnel leading down to the bottom of the pit and started crawling down.

I grabbed her ankle and tried to pull her back. She couldn't go down there. I didn't know what would happen to her.

“Mag, no! I have to go!” She managed to wriggle out of my grasp and pulled herself deeper into the tunnel.

Frost grabbed me and pointed me towards the ledge. We ran forwards and jumped. We landed well before Inau got out of the tunnel, dirt smeared all over her face and hands, spitting more out. She bolted for Stalker, lying still at the rocky bottom of the stream bed. Frost caught her and tried to hold her back. She screamed and tried to kick him. “Let me go! Let me go! I need to see!”

I tried to help him, he couldn't hold her down too long without freezing her. But when I tried to get my arms around her she disappeared, and I felt her mind meet mine. We walked a couple steps closer to Stalker and knelt before she reappeared and closed the gap herself.

Frost and I ran up. It was an awful scene. Stalker twitched at Inau's touch, but he couldn't do anything more. Blood pooled under him, dripping from wet wounds all over his body. Inau tried to press closed the stab wound cutting through his abdomen, quickly coating her hands in black. Void energy rippled as she tried to knit the flesh back together, but it didn't work like it does for other warframes.

“He needs help.”

 _He's Stalker!_ we insisted. Frost grabbed her shoulder and tried to pull her away. She actually turned and bit his wrist. She didn't hurt him, and she didn't bite down for long so he didn't hurt her either, but she got the message across.

“Shit, Ordis! We don't have much time.” Inau hit her earpiece. “Ordis! We need pickup. I know it's awkward, but please? We've got someone who's hurt. No, it's not one of us. Thank you so much, I promise it'll be worth it.”

I knelt by her. I can't believe I did it, but I took off my syandana and wrapped it around the wounds on his arm. Stalker tried to pull away, but Inau alone could have held him down with little effort in that state.

Frost shook his head and backed off, arms crossed. I understood. Stalker – this Stalker – attacked him. He doesn't owe anything to the piece of shit.

Before long we heard the Liset coming in. I grabbed Stalker under the arms and dragged him towards the tunnel. He reached towards me, shaking. He couldn't even touch me. His arm dropped, and I ~~hoped~~ thought he'd died, but I had to pull him over a rock and he tensed.

Once we were out of the tunnel Inau tried to help lift Stalker, hoisting his legs over her shoulders. She scowled at the effort, but she followed me along.

Frost trailed us at a distance, watching out for anything that might come in to attack. In the distance I saw the glint of kubrow eyes, no doubt attracted by the fight and the blood.

Inau and I hauled Stalker into the Liset's main compartment. Frost boarded the usual way, stored in the frame compartment separate from us.

Oh, it did not go well when we got aboard the Orbiter.

 _”Operator!”_ Ordis cried. “What are you doing with - _that bloody, disgusting monstrosity_ \- the Stalker? He's already tried to hurt you.”

Rhino and Limbo jogged up. Both jolted back when they saw Stalker being carried between us. Rhino growled, holding up clenched fists. Limbo followed us along, trying to help take some of the load off of Inau.

We reached Helminth's room and Inau banged on the door, calling for him to open up, we needed help. Nothing happened until she smeared her hand on the door, leaving a black trail.

We left Stalker in the chair. Helminth hesitated before poking at him. I didn't think he was going to do anything, but he shooed us out and Ordis reported he got to work.

I think we're going to have to have a family meeting.


	44. Family Meeting

Dear Journal,

Rhino and Frost are furious. The last time I saw Rhino this angry was after Stalker attacked Frost. Limbo and I have been trying to tell Inau that maybe we should try to get Stalker out of Helminth's room and, if we don't let him pass away on his own, put him out of his misery.

Inau tried to stay strong, but her chin wobbled no matter how high she held it, and her eyes were red with tears. “I know,” she said. “I know he's hurt us. He's hurt a lot of people. Frost, I was _there,_ I felt it when he attacked, too. I know you're mad at me.”

Rhino growled.

 _He tried to kill you,_ Limbo signed. He had his dagger out of his cane, waiting by his side. With the extent of his injuries, Stalker wouldn't be getting away from Helminth any time soon, even if he wanted to. I couldn't fault Limbo for being cautious, though.

“I know, but he hesitated.” Inau drummed on her arms. She gave up looking tough at that point, she didn't meet our eyes after that. “I want answers. Why did he hesitate? Why is there another Stalker?”

 _Do you think he'll tell us?_ I asked. I still don't know the answer. I don't think we will until he wakes up and we manage to talk to him.

Inau didn't try to guess, either. She shrugged, and pursed her lips when Rhino huffed at her.

Frost had the next question. _Do we have to keep him?_

“Did I have to keep you?” Inau clapped her hands over her mouth as soon as she said the words. She reached for Frost as he got up.

Rhino got the edge of his coat but Frost pulled it out of his hands and left the room.

“I'm sorry,” Inau said, but it was too late.

She turned back to the three of us after Frost left, her eyes all shiny again. “I don't– I'm sorry. I don't know. Hunhow said he was one of us. If he was, what if Hunhow used him, too, like the Orokin used us? I thought they were our saviors once, too.”

Frost hasn't come out of the back room we kept him in early in his life with us since the conversation. Inau tried talking to him through the door, but it's not like any of us but Rhino could respond.

We'll have to see. I hate it, but we'll have to see. Rhino went down to retrieve Stalker's weapons, they're locked down. I'm actually not sure if all of them are here on the ship, or if any are. We bounced across a few different planets that Rhino went down to.

Until Stalker awakes, we'll be running alerts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have waited so, so long for this update.


	45. Good Faith

Dear Journal,

We've got a decent haul. More endo, and the Vauban neuroptics we've been missing. I don't know if we'll be building him any time soon, considering everything. Nobody's been buying the Prime blueprints we have stored, but oh well. We're not desperate for platinum.

Ordis reported that Stalker is finally regaining some form of awareness. It's been days. He is far from full strength, or even being able to walk on his own. He's just batting at Helminth's limbs, and Helminth held him down without issue when he did manage to get in the way.

Rhino and I are waiting by the door for when Helminth lets him out. Helminth seems to be finishing up his work, according to Ordis, and is doing one more checkup. It wouldn't be good for him to die not long after he gets out. And who knows? Maybe he wants to make up for the issues that came up with Limbo.

Fuck door's opening

Rhino carried him down belowdecks. He could hardly move, and I think Helminth somehow cooked up a painkiller to fill him with. He tried to fight back against Rhino and the most he could do was paw at his throat.

We put him in one of the little niches we often stay in. He grabbed onto Rhino as we moved him, and kept looking around. Disoriented. Not enough to keep him from trying to look around at my journal.

I can't apologize for hitting him in the face with you, journal. And continuing when he tried to fight back. Look, asshole, you're not in charge here.

YOU ARE NOT IN CHARGE HERE.

YOU LIVE ON OUR OPERATOR'S GOOD FAITH.

DON'T FUCK IT UP.

I'm going to show this to you until you get it into your head. I don't know why Inau decided you were worth sparing. Hesitating as you tried to kill a child doesn't mean you didn't kill so many other frames, or hurt our own family.

I don't know what you think you are, or what we are, but let me tell you. Every one of us you killed has been a person in their own right. And for what? For the sake of the Grineer, the Corpus, and the Infested? For Hunhow, who decided you weren't yet good enough for him?

We didn't choose to be weapons. Think about that.


	46. Interrogation

Dear Journal,

I'm going to record what I can of Inau's first attempt at interrogation, negotiation, conversation, whatever with Stalker. She's sitting with him, Rhino, Limbo, and Frost by her side. They have their weapons at the ready and she is poised and ready to hit Stalker with a void beam.

I: Okay. I've heard you talk before, so we can avoid the silent treatment. Let's start with an easy question. How do you feel?

Stalker hesitates and manages to lift his head up a bit. Rhino shifts the Scindo Prime but Stalker doesn't strike.

S: Never...

He sounds like he's struggling to speak. A side effect of his injuries or whatever separated him from Shadow?

I: Uh huh. Your shadow beat you up pretty good, I don't think you're getting up from the cubby for a while. Not like I have little sticker stars or anything to decorate, either, so get used to the view. Also I'm pretty sure all them - _she gestures at us frames_ \- would kill you if you do anything you shouldn't. And if you hurt them, I'll make bleeding out in the woods after such a shameful defeat look pleasant. Understood?

He said nothing, but nodded after a moment. Either he figured out how to pick his battles or he's biding his time.

I: Great, glad we got that out of the way. So, when you got on my ship and tried to kill me, how did you do it?

S: Tenno...

He reached for Inau. I think for her throat. She took his hand and lowered it to his chest, shaking his head at him.

I: Nuh uh, no, you don't get to touch. I don't think strangling me is gonna impart the knowledge I asked of you. I said how, not why. I know you wanted to kill me. You were pretty clear on that front. So, how did you get on the Orbiter?

Long pause. Stalker looked down at Inau's hand, still covering his. Then he looked at the rest of us. He turned his head, made it obvious where he was looking.

S: Liset. N- Orrs. (No Ordis?)

How had he known that Ordis would be too distracted with Rhino and Inau's quest to pay attention to the Orbiter? I presume by “Liset” he means he got in through the loading dock, or the airlock.

I: Okay. You and that Shadow Stalker, the one you were fighting. You're different people, right?

Stalker did nothing.

I: Had you ever personally encountered Limbo, besides on the Orbiter?

Stalker stared at the frame in question, then shook his head. Limbo's dagger hand is shaking.

I: Okay, then you and Shadow Stalker are different people. Me and Limbo, we defeated Shadow. So, why were you and Shadow fighting? You both seem invested in us dying.

S: Bold...hoping for...honesty.

Rhino touched the edge of the Scindo to Stalker's throat. Inau shook her head.

I: You and Shadow look different, and we saw you both in the same place. What happened? Seriously, I saved your edgy ass, it might be a good idea to tell me what happened so we can avoid it in the future. You have to tell me the truth sooner or later, Sir “Bold Hoping For Honesty.” Mag, what did your paper say?

I showed him the page from the previous entry again. Both Inau and I tapped the line about him living on good faith. He watched, I have no way of knowing whether he truly feels the message in whatever passes for a heart in our bodies.

Stalker raised his fingers for a second. It got Inau to stop drumming on his hand.

S: Justice and hate.

I: Not fond of yourself, are you?

He hissed. A laugh or was he mad at her for saying it? Both?

Our conversation got cut short. He pointed at Frost and said, “Your actions... you suffered.” It visibly upset Frost, and pissed off Rhino. He roared and brought the handle of the Scindo down on the inside of Stalker's elbow. He couldn't move fast enough, and took the hit. Something cracked, so he's back in with Helminth now.

I've been thinking about that line. “Justice and hate.” Why those two? One for each? According to Inau, Hunhow said Stalker's hate for the Tenno wasn't strong enough, since he couldn't kill her. Or seeing a child (I'm sorry, Inau, but you really are a child) at least gave him pause long enough for Rhino to break War. Make that War 1.0. Maybe Stalker does think he's justified in his actions. Or maybe he's mixed the two together. Or he's trying to prove himself and is angry towards Hunhow's version of him.

Which begs the question, how did Hunhow create another Stalker? I don't know if he can go in and out of the Void like the original can, Limbo encountered him on Lua after it was pulled from the Void. Is he a Sentient creation? The oculysts already knew Limbo was there when Shadow Stalker appeared. If Stalker really is a Tenno, then Hunhow at least has two minds to work with.

That explains it. Stalker the Tenno child didn't want to kill someone he may have known. Someone who he banded together with, who knew the misery aboard the Zariman Ten Zero, who'd been hunted by the adults who'd once been loving and caring, too. Hunhow threw him out.

I need to talk about this with the others.


	47. Bystanders

Dear Journal,

We've tried a couple more conversations with Stalker, but they're not productive. All he does is say he wants to rest, or that he's in pain. He has, if nothing else, developed a healthy caution towards Inau.

Since I was the one who helped Frost back into personhood, the majority of rehabilitating Stalker has ended up on my shoulders, too. The others help for sure, I've been talking with Frost about what he thinks did and did not work well for him and trying to apply those lessons, even if he cannot work with Stalker himself. Rhino is on primary duty for checkups and physical rehabilitation. Limbo helps both him and I.

With Frost, a lot of what I did involved just being around him, doing my usual duties. Back then, I didn't have much else to do besides clean my weapons, go online, and run missions. Frost, I could clean my weapons around. It took him a while to figure out what I was doing, especially with guns, and he wasn't in the mental state to use them against me. Stalker, I can't do that.

So today was keyboard day. I sat out of his reach, set some sheet music out, and played. At first, neither of us talked. It might as well have been band practice as usual, if not for the monster lying in the nook across from me. Ordis didn't need to correct himself. I spent so much of last night reading stories from Tenno whom he attacked, or who even lost warframes to him.

I couldn't help it. In between picking music to play, I relayed the stories to him, focusing on the ways the Tenno expressed their pain. Some buried their fallen warframes. Some had memorials of different sorts, most on their ships, some public and online. I showed him the memorials, the pictures of the graves.

He asked me if I thought the Orokin felt the same, when we Tenno destroyed them.

I rebuked that the war was ongoing when we went to sleep. Their own hubris killed them. They used the Sentinels, they used the Tenno, they used the Infested. Every last one turned on them.

But there were innocents in that war. He has a point there. Not every last Orokin dedicated themselves to subjugating us. Countless were bystanders – was that any better, I asked him? Sitting by while we suffered? He said my mind was twisted, that I didn't know the true Orokin. I and all the other Tenno judged a people because we didn't like how they tried to help us. We were immature, cruel, and our guns and blades knew no morals.

I told him to look around and ask if being taken in and nursed back to health by a girl whose beloved family he had tried to kill looked cruel to him. Whether Inau was immature in refusing to throw away him, or Frost, or Limbo, like broken toys simply because they needed a little help.

He told me I was foolish and blind to the truth, that I wasn't worth explaining to, and that I ought to keep playing my music. So I played for him the pieces Limbo wrote, explained the inspiration and context behind them, asked for his feedback, came up with a few tunes of my own when he said nothing.

We're spending the night alternating who's on guard. Frost, Limbo, and I are all staying belowdecks. Rhino refuses to leave Inau's side. I don't think he's sleeping, either, so he gets a pass on us three's guard duty. Stalker seems to be out cold, he's barely twitched since Ordis dimmed the lights. I'm sure he's flattered that we still think him dangerous enough to be worth watching in his miserable state.

It's almost time for me to turn in. I'm going to go wake Frost.


	48. Pets

Dear Journal,

Rhino took up the broken War Ordis found after Stalker left it in his chest. He's clearly not afraid of Stalker trying to steal his weapon, he came down after changing up the sword's chromatophores to match his new palette. I don't know what he's going for with black armor accented in hot pink or cyan flesh, but he seems happy. It's also back to his standard helm and no syandana for him. 

Maybe Inau got tired of playing princess.

I wish he at least kept the syandana. Frost keeps insisting that Limbo or I should take it now that we have the chance. I think he's making up for not looking good in any cosmetic not specifically designed for him by being colorful and dressing the rest of us up. Too bad we don't go along with his plans.

Polar Bear also got belowdecks. She jumped down, which scared the shit out of Limbo (who was trying to keep her from doing just that) and I. She's fine, she ran around like nothing happened and barked at Stalker. I kept her away from him, and he actually tensed up when she got too close. She's a small target with little natural defenses whom we're all emotionally attached to, if he wanted to ruin everything fast he could just snap her neck. I bet he was planning it.

I got her back up and continued on Stalker-watch.

“Kubrow... war beasts accompany war beasts.” As he regains strength, Stalker puts it all into talking, as I discovered. Except when Rhino is giving him resistance exercises and he has to avoid getting crushed.

 _It's a puppy. Her name is Polar Bear. The most warlike thing she does is pee on the floor,_ I responded. I'd been able to sign for almost all of our conversations, which surprised and concerned me. I keep a tablet on hand to write on, he's not fluent in our sign language, but he understood a lot more than I had expected for someone who rejected the culture Tenno built for ourselves so much.

“You are no exception.”

 _Perhaps we're not. If you're right, and we're pretty average, there's a lot of well-loved warframes and pets out there. Too bad you like to kill them._ It's hard not to get snippy with him. The only things he ever says aim to insult and degrade us.

“Lotus' tools. Deceitful traitor.”

_Us or her?_

“Yes.” He hissed the 's' like it would make him sound scarier and not just like he leaned on his arm wrong and aggravated a wound.

_Thank you for the constructive criticism. I'll let the Board know your ever so eloquent thoughts next time we meet. Let's talk about something more fun. When you were young, did you have pets?_

He went quiet. I think it's just what he's going to do when any of us ask anything that he cannot relate to how awful we are. I told him Inau's thinking of getting some fish, he says nothing. I ask if he's ever gone fishing, he says nothing. I suggest he come with us sometime, but maybe we'll need a sun hat for him to disguise his face, and we might need him to shift his chromatophores first, he says nothing.

I went out on a mission. It wasn't anything spectacular, just a defense mission against the Corpus. Lotus gave us a forma for it. We have like, four now. I don't know why. We don't really use them. We gave one to a friend for a dojo project, but otherwise Inau hoards them.

It felt nice to stretch my legs, and have a good laugh with the people on our team. Apparently nobody knew what the artifact we had to protect was, so it was up to us to generate ideas.

I came back to Limbo doing his card tricks on Stalker. He's not the most participatory audience, but he seemed frustrated with Limbo's ability to perform the tricks even within his innate nullification field, so by the time I saw them he'd almost crumpled his card while Limbo worked his magic.

Honestly, I think the real magic is how Limbo manages to sign with the cards. He doesn't show them, either. He confessed to me that it's a helpful distraction in lieu of a voice. People don't watch the real action as closely when he's moving his hands and fingers like that close to their faces.


	49. Examination

Dear Journal,

Frost agreed to let Simaris examine him.

He's not agreeing to be synthesized or anything like that. But he told Inau he wanted to permit any physical examinations and whatever questions Simaris had for him. It could help others, or so he hopes.

They went down to the nearest relay, accompanied by Rhino's camera drone. Inau wanted to make sure no funny business happened, so she streamed everything to Ordis and, by extension, to all of us.

Ordis did give Simaris any data gathered while Frost was feral and in the process of being socialized, as well as some observations at various points after he'd begun regular Transference. I hope it helped sate his hunger for information. I think we ought to go to Cephalon Suda first, next time.

Wait. Next time? What other chance will we have to tame a Prime?

Well, I'm sure she'd be interested in any data we get on Stalker.

Anyways, it went surprisingly well. Simaris got in everyone's face, as to be expected. He ran some scans on Frost and declared him to be a perfectly functional Frost Prime, save for the dead chromatophores. That surprised a grand total of no one. When it came to psychology he seemed absolutely fascinated by the conlang project, and how Frost went from prowling a forest and defending what he claimed as his territory to creating a sign language any Tenno could use, and that many Tenno did use.

He asked an uncomfortable amount of questions relating to the “primality” of a feral mind. Frost may not be the most socially acceptable guy but even he was squirming at some of them. I almost turned off the screen, or at least turned away. I didn't want to know how Frost delineated his territory. He barely remembered anything about that time, anyways.

The strangest part was when he asked about how Frost felt about each of us. He asked if Frost saw any of us as competitors, and Frost didn't let him finish the question before saying that no, he did not. Not in the way he'd seen the village or the Grineer as competitors. Sure, he and Rhino butted heads sometimes, but that wasn't anything similar. No, he saw us as companions. His home and ours was one and the same.

Then he had to keep insisting that the relationship was familial. I think Simaris saw him as a chance to glean information on how warframes or our ancestors live outside of an Operator's influence more than a chance to learn about the recovery process. He's not shy about anything, that's for sure.

I think I actually got Stalker to laugh. I certainly got Limbo and Rhino.

But hey, now I know there's other people who want to kinkshame Simaris.


	50. Hana

Dear Journal,

Rhino and I took one of our last two-frame walks out around the relay. Stalker is regaining his strength and we don't want to leave him unsupervised once he's capable of getting up from the nook. Right now, he can sit up and look around, and he's been trying some of our signs, more for hand dexterity than anything.

Walking with Rhino is actually rather peaceful. He doesn't talk, of course, but he's not as loud as he can get when he and Frost rile each other up. He actually hums a bit sometimes, that's it.

It went pretty well until someone's small child got lost.

By small I mean _small._ This kid came up to Rhino's knee. I know that because she ran into it and started crying. She looked upset in the brief instant I saw her before she hit him, but that was the last straw. She fell down on her butt, took a couple breaths, and wailed.

Rhino acted decisively. He bent down and picked her up, then rocked her side to side and stroked her wispy hair and patted her on the back. It didn't help much, not at first. I scanned the area; with all the noise she was making, certainly she'd get the attention of some concerned parent.

We were getting plenty of stares, I'll say that. It wasn't until I was about to try and help soothe the girl that someone in the crowd squawked and ran for us.

“Hana! Hana! Hana, what did you do?”

I think running into frames is genetic, the father didn't stop until he was finger-widths away from Rhino's back. Only then did he seem to realize who'd found his daughter. He made this horrified gasp and stumbled back.

Hana screeched extra loud and reached out for him. Rhino turned around and, upon giving the man a cursory examination, passed her over.

He backed up a step, eyes locked on Rhino. I don't think he was looking at the wet smear of tears, snot, spit, whatever that Hana left on Rhino's shoulder, either.

 _It's okay, he'd never hurt a kid,_ I signed.

The guy didn't seem to understand, I was lucky to catch his attention long enough for him to give me a confused look, mouth all scrunched.

“I don't- what happened? Thank- thank you for finding my daughter, Tenno, but...”

Well, at least the story was easy to tell without signing. I pointed at Hana, then at Rhino, tapped my knee, and smacked my hands together. That got the point across; he nodded slowly, mouth open a little bit.

“I- I see.” He gave us a quick bow. “Thank you again, Tenno.”

We waved off his concerns, and he left soon enough, telling Hana to be more careful. I was in the middle of telling Rhino how much of a softie he was under all that armor (he picked up a stranger's kid and tried to soothe her!) when Valkyr found us.

I didn't hear her approach, so when she tapped my shoulder I launched myself onto Rhino. After he put me down, I didn't know whether to be nice and polite or tell Valkyr she'd taken a few years off my life.

She waved and apologized. Apparently she hadn't recognized Rhino, but when the commotion occurred with Hana she spotted me, and I was familiar enough.

We chatted a bit. I desperately tried to keep the conversation on entirely innocuous things and events far separated from what was going on at home. Rhino wandered off to find something to clean the spit off his shoulder with, not like he was much help anyways.

Then she asked if we'd be holding band practice. It's been so long since the last time we met up.

I froze. Not for long, and I hope she didn't notice it, but for a split second I froze. We can't have guests, not with Stalker around. We're so far from being able to tell anyone what happened that Inau hasn't even brought it up in the slightest. We might end up deciding he's incompatible with society due to his past transgressions for all I know.

I told her we were leaving soon and wouldn't have any time to host band practice. I apologized, and she seemed to take the excuse. It had truth to it; as I write we're on our way out to Neptune to get Limbo more experience. It felt bad, not being able to tell her everything. At least I could tell her about Frost and Simaris' encounter.

She told me that next time, she'll insist, or that we should at least let her know when we're at a relay again. Oh, goodness, maybe we need to go dark for a while.


	51. Hypocrite

Dear Journal,

For all his Rift Walking, Limbo is having a tough time managing missions on Neptune. He can't be in the Rift to hack terminals, which is just enough time for sustained fire to get to him. There's no point in making as much of a joke of data vaults as he does if you can't get in and out of the place. Unfortunately he's had a hard time finding teammates. Nobody's dumped him for being a Limbo so far, it's just that nobody happens to be looking to run the same mission at the same time.

Speaking of running and walking, Stalker's on his feet for short bursts. He's not very _stable_ on his feet, but he managed to get up from his nook and wander a bit. Honestly, the prospect of him being able to move terrifies me. When Limbo returned from a mission and Inau heard about the new development, she came down to talk to Stalker and I was so scared I felt sick. We brought him onto our ship, and he may not be armed with his favorite weapons, but we have plenty aboard and our most effective counter to him is a pubescent girl who spent centuries in cryosleep.

Inau had a talk with him, though, and I think we got some actual progress.

Her concern of the day was where he'd stay. She actually walked with him a bit, tried to support him when he faltered. (She can't take much weight on her own, but he at least seemed too proud to let her help.) “We can't in good conscience let you go if you're going to go right back to murdering people.”

“Hypocrite,” he said, of course. He didn't seem to notice the angry face she made, but he did notice when she swatted his arm.

“So are you.” She sighed and turned so she was walking backwards, facing him. “Look, the people we fight and kill are clone fascists, space zombies, and capitalists. Oh, and murder grandpa, also known as the guy who wanted us all dead in the first place and the guy who used you and got rid of you. I know you heard him, do you think Hunhow would have spared you if he goes through with his 'kill all Tenno' plan? You must have an Operator on Lua, too. Hunhow would kill everyone. Frame-you would go feral, then you'd _really_ be stuck with us.”

He reached out for her like he was going to grab her and she hit him in the face with a void blast. It stunned him enough he hit the ground. She sat down across from him, and the four of us took up positions to her sides and back. I was ready to murder him. Still am. I'd dance on his grave.

He at least seemed to consider the points she made. “Loyalty is rewarded.”

I think we all scoffed at some level, but only Rhino and Inau could make a sound about it, and only Inau rebuked him. “Hunhow sure rewarded your loyalty, didn't he? Made himself a real nice clone of you and let it beat you to the brink of death.”

“You know nothing.”

“I don't think you do, either, buddy.”

It's so fun, listening to Inau tell him off. I think he genuinely didn't expect her attitude. Trusted that she'd be soft and sweet all the way through, I guess.

She kept talking to him. Told him that, on principle, she didn't want to leave him homeless and unarmed. She also couldn't keep an active threat on her ship, so if he wanted somewhere safe to sleep he'd have to do his part to _make_ the ship safe. For everyone.

He went back to saying nothing.

“How much older than me are you?” she asked.

It wasn't much, but he reacted, head drifting downwards.

“That's okay. Remembering isn't easy.” She patted his arm and left before he could get a good swipe in at her.

We have a plan. It won't be an easy plan, but it is a necessary plan. We need to deprogram him before he can climb the ladder to the main deck on his own.


	52. Dominance

Dear Journal,

We've been busy. So, so busy. I think this is the busiest we've been without running missions. Stalker gets some alone time, but we don't feel like we get time off. We stay on guard. Rhino works him until he can barely move to keep him down longer. Inau told him to back off in case it causes permanent damage, but Limbo's gotten in on it, too, and Stalker hates when the skinny frame does more than him.

Neither of them can hold off Rhino when he shoves them into a wall and holds them there. I don't know if Stalker could manage that before his injuries. It's fun to watch them try to counter him. Limbo's gotten good at finding ways to slip out of Rhino's grasp, and even though Stalker watches him do so he's too big to follow the same tricks.

Come to think of it, maybe Limbo got involved so he can demonstrate that Rhino's not proving his dominance or anything. It's literally just games.

Since we're not running missions, Inau spends a lot of time sitting with Stalker. She's trying to acclimate him to her presence, a little like how she'd reach out to Frost when he was feral. She told me earlier tonight that she's actually tried a form of Transference with him, but he pushes her out well before she can get any insight into him, or him into her. It's not like with Frost, where his mind was simply too incompatible with hers until he acclimated, and she couldn't take it. She cannot get in to him. If anything, it's a lesson in the impossibility of two Operators linked to one frame.

Still, I think he's at least learned not to make attempts on her life when the rest of us are supervising, which is always. She also told him about how she's now taken Shadow Stalker out twice. I listen in to a lot of their conversations, and I've grouped them into three categories: moral arguments, warnings veiled or otherwise, and one-sided idle chatter.

One of today's conversations of choice was when Inau was eating some candy, sitting cross-legged across from Stalker, as usual. Ordis gets food for the Orbiter, so most of what she eats is specifically chosen for her health. He accepts an occasional less than ideal snack, but oh does he balk when she tries to pass it off as a meal. I'm sure he has a ton of research on proper nutrition for teenagers stored in his data banks.

So, Inau was talking to Stalker about food. How it took her forever to recognize when she was hungry because us warframes don't feel hunger. She described how it felt and asked him if his Operator ever let the feeling drift in over Transference, or if his Operator was awake enough to feel hunger at all. Then she offered him one of her candies. She had a little packet of them, they're orb-shaped and maybe the size of her smallest fingernail.

“You can talk,” she said, “And you haven't died of starvation or anything, so I'm guessing you don't need to eat, at least not the same food I eat. But, I don't know.” She leaned in, holding the little yellow candy closer to him. “I don't know how you talk, but I figure you're more likely than the others to have somewhere to... put this.”

He stared at her for a long time. Behind him, Frost made a joke about where he could put it. As in, he put one foot up on a nearby nook, hiked up his coattails, and pantomimed inserting something into an orifice. He added a little snap of his hip.

Inau choked back a laugh and turned so bright red. Stalker snatched the candy from her and turned around to see what was going on. Frost wiggled his hips and Stalker threw the candy at him. He caught it when it bounced, inspected it, and slowly drew it down his body, starting at his collar, writhing all the while. Once he got to his mid-thigh he stopped and threw it back. It shattered upon hitting Stalker.

That did not go over well. Stalker scrabbled to his feet and did his best to throw himself at Frost, and soon the two were fighting. Stalker kept trying to scratch or gouge him. Frost grabbed his wrists. The two kicked at each other, and then the fight was over.

Frost had kneed Stalker _hard_ in the belly, right where Shadow impaled him.

That hit opened the wound. Frost's leg got all smeared with blood, and we had to do some emergency first-aid. Inau held the wound closed while I went to get my syandana; it's already bloody and try as I might I cannot get the stains out, so it's on bandage duty. And I really liked that syandana, too.

When I examined it the opened part was fairly deep, which concerned me. It also looked fresh, no signs of re-healing. Holding it closed should have been enough to get the healing process started, even without Void energy assistance. I know we don't bleed long unless we're very wounded. I wrapped it as best as I could.

Huh. Stalker didn't fight us, thinking back on it. Either he's taking advantage of it for when he goes after us, or he's beginning to trust us. Or being injured stunned him too much to fight. We're at some horrible in-between point where I can't tell which it is.

He bled into the syandana for a good while, too. I don't think his healing ability is quite up to par with ours. That's strange, it's one of the things all warframes are on the same footing on. What happened to his?

I guess he wasn't sleeping, he shifted and got up when I stared at him. Since he was up, I asked him if he knew why he didn't heal as well as other frames. His reason disturbs me.

“Injury is a sign of weakness. Weakness must be punished. For weakness I must suffer.”

I tried to talk to him about it. Say that it would impede him physically, wouldn't it? And we are fighters, it is only natural for us to get injured sometimes, even if it's sheer luck. And that no person deserves to suffer.

Which felt weird and wrong to say to him, let me tell you.

Helping a feral frame, Prime or otherwise, feels easy compared to trying to break this sort of conditioning. And, from how well Stalker's been recovering so far, we don't have a lot of time left.

I don't want to lose my Operator. I don't want to lose my family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Fun times this week. I finished up WAT, it comes to a total of 98 pages and 51,370 words, or thereabouts. (I do spot edits so the word count here and on the doc may not 100% match up.) There's still plenty of shenanigans up ahead! I think I'll stick to a two-chapter update schedule, just because I get excited enough about sharing the content with y'all that I don't want to drag it out.
> 
> There is more in the works, though. I have a lot of fun with these characters, and some of them are actually really good at giving me stuff to work with. I'll see how much buffer I can build up while I'm posting WAT.


	53. Ladder

Dear Journal,

That fucker tried to climb up the ladder last night.

It's been a couple days since Frost kicked him and I guess he decided that was enough for him to try and make a break for it.

I was on duty, I only noticed because Polar Bear started barking at him. I tried to pull him down and he tried to kick me off. Frost and Limbo woke up at the commotion and helped me. We got him on the floor, he's not at the point where he can fend off three frames.

Next time, though, that just means he'll be stronger and know to be stealthier.

We've run out of time. All this time, constant effort, and we've failed.


	54. Nail Polish

Dear Journal,

We stopped by a relay today. It's Orcus, it's pretty far out of the way. Ordis protested and protested when we docked, he almost refused to do it. Inau said she'd go alone, all us frames would stay here to make sure Stalker didn't get any funny ideas.

She returned soon enough. She came belowdecks with us and went straight for Stalker, a big smile on her face. She held out a little bottle of nail polish. I didn't know what it was at the time, just that it was little and its contents were bright red and sparkly.

“Come sit with me,” she said. He was in his nook, she sat down a good distance from it, inviting him to get up and move to her. She didn't wait for him before she opened the bottle, revealing a tiny brush, and started painting her nails.

He, well, stalked towards her. She smiled at him and patted the spot in front of her. Both of them know they can kill the other, the resulting tension hung thick in the air. He looked around, gaze lingering on Rhino, who stood there with Broken War. I guess seeing the person he stabbed holding the weapon he stabbed him with humbled him, and he sat down. Now, I will admit we are not the most expressive, at least in terms of faces, but he _glowered_ at Inau.

She hummed and finished painting one hand. She waved it around and talked to him about his escape attempt – or murder attempt. It sounded as casual as if she were talking to one of us about a book she'd read. I felt her fear through Transference, I felt the ghost of her heart pounding, harder than it has been recently. I need to find a way to calm her down, this can't be good for her.

Of course, then she held one hand out so she could take his.

He grabbed her arm and started to twist it. She shrieked and told him to stop, stop, stop! There's still a sparkly red stain on the floor where she spilled some of the polish.

She grabbed him back and I think shocked him with some Void energy. He let go, but there were red marks all over her arm. They're bruises now.

It didn't stop her. Limbo and I sat by her, and Rhino stepped up but she told him to back off. This wasn't supposed to be an act done in coercion.

She wiped away some tears and took Stalker's hand. And she just painted.

We don't have much that would translate to her fingernails. It didn't stop her, she painted in gentle strokes within the same general shape as her own nails. She told him how he picked the color because red flatters everyone, and there were so many matte colors, but she picked a sparkly one because it's more fun. And cheaper, it just went out of style.

She asked how long it had been since he had known friendly touch. He didn't answer, but she suggested that it must have been a long time, since he reacted to everything with aggression. She talked about how hard it must be for him. After the Zariman Ten-Zero incident, she'd known a lot of cruel touch, too. Kids fighting, bullying each other. Battles and sparring. Angry Orokin mentors, or just plain sadistic ones. The ones who used their position of power to hurt others, how she'd listened to stories about sexual abuse, some from her friends.

That's why she liked to hug us frames, and sleep snuggled up with one of us, and dance with us, even if no party involved was particularly good. Because she needed to remind herself that it could be a good thing, too. It helped her heal, and so she wanted to help him the same way. It's hard to find somewhere to start sometimes, and he seemed to need some direction.

Because yes, for all her rebellion, for all the Tenno's rebellion, she was still a weapon. She fought and killed on a daily basis, and used us to do it. She didn't want to, but she wasn't in a position to stop. If the Grineer or the Corpus got too strong, they'd be able to turn their attention to the Tenno. From there, they could take out the little villages and independent groups. A lot of Tenno work to keep them safe. Maybe someday she could retire, and live in one of the little villages. They're very different from the Orokin empire, but she liked the idea of living in somewhere like Cetus. Maybe then she could try to grow up into a normal person. She just hoped it wasn't too late.

I want to retire. I want to live a quiet life without having to worry about the Corpus or Grineer or Infested or Sentients.

Inau painted the rest of our fingers, too, except for Rhino. She was running low on polish, considering about half the bottle's contents were on the floor, and she did my toes too.

It doesn't match my color scheme, but it made her happy.

Stalker has been staring at the paint all night. He's picked at it some, but it's tough stuff. I don't know what he's all caught up about. I'll take what I can get.


	55. Attempt

Dear Journal,

He snuck past us. He snuck past Limbo, who was on guard duty. He got up the ladder and past Polar Bear, who was fast asleep. He didn't kill her, thank the stars. Somehow he got past Rhino and to Inau.

He tried to strangle her again.

She woke up and started to flail, but he held her down so she wouldn't make noise and alert Rhino. Of course, Rhino noticed and was about to run him through with Broken War. But Stalker stopped, and stepped away.

Inau sat up, crying and gasping. She was so scared, she felt like she still couldn't breathe. Her fear woke all of us up, and soon we were all in her room. Rhino had Stalker pinned to the wall, and was just about ready to crush his head. Frost joined him, ensuring Stalker couldn't move.

Limbo and I went to comfort Inau. It didn't take long for her to recover, at least externally. She's a soldier after all, same as us.

She got up and made her way to Stalker. She was a little wobbly, but she did her best to not let it show. Frost and Rhino let go, and she and Stalker faced each other down.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” she said. “You didn't want to kill me, did you?”

“Tenno,” he growled.

“I know. So are you.”

At first I thought he was reaching for her again, but instead of grabbing he splayed his fingers and stared at the paint on them. Inau moved slow, interlacing her fingers with his.

“You don't have to impress anyone, or prove anything. Well, okay, we like to know whether or not you're gonna do things like this.”

All of us frames nodded in assent to Inau's statement. It was a little creepy.

“What have you been looking for?”

“Justice.”

“For the Orokin?”

He nodded, head held high and back like Rhino still had him pinned. Considering Rhino growled at him the whole time, I'm pretty sure he could have kept him pinned with sheer willpower if he had any form of telekinesis.

She shook her head. “I'm sorry you lost them. War's never clean and pretty, is it? You were working for Hunhow, right?”

He got all too intent on Broken War. Rhino hefted it, letting the blade bite at his palm. Which horrified Inau, and when she saw that it had actually cut him later down the line, she cried and told him to promise to never do that again.

Stalker pressed his palm into the heel of Inau's hand. “I must reclaim.”

“He's a Sentient. They wanted to destroy the Orokin long before us Tenno were around. We got in their way. You don't owe him anything. Look. You're here because he took part of you or whatever and let that try to kill _you_. He would have let Operator-you die on Lua, and frame-you go feral. He was working against you from the start, you're not beholden to him. So. You tried to kill me because you think doing so will bring justice to the Orokin. What stopped you?”

“Tenno...” His gaze fell from Rhino and the sword, paused on Inau's face, then cast to a wall.

They talked for a solid hour. At some point Ordis started talking to someone, I think Lotus, promising to explain it all in the morning. I think she already understands.

They talked about the Old War, what little Inau could remember it, some of Stalker's own memories. They talked about being forced to kill for one reason or another. They talked about feelings, about the fury coiled in Stalker's gut and the need to survive grasping at Inau's limbs. They talked about home, and about being safe.

A lot of it was one-sided. It didn't stop Inau.

But, eventually, her words made less sense and she yawned every couple sentences. So at last she looked up at him and asked if he'd try to hurt her again if she went to sleep.

He hesitated for a long time, long enough for Rhino to readjust the sword and finally realize he'd dripped a bit of blood on the floor. At last he shook his head.

She nodded and let go, yawning and rubbing her eyes. “Goodnight, then,” she said, and went back to her bed.

Frost and Limbo escorted Stalker belowdecks. I stayed with Rhino and Inau.

She couldn't quite get comfortable in the bed, the attempt on her life was too fresh in her mind. She took all her blankets and pillows and piled onto the floor near Rhino, and the two of us slept with her between us.

I swear, I counted her every breath until I finally fell asleep, knowing how close she'd gotten to never drawing one again.


	56. Arguments

Dear Journal,

Lotus knows what we're doing now. I wouldn't say she's happy with the arrangement, but Inau convinced her not to send extra protection or have Stalker killed. She posed it as a way to get information about Hunhow's plans, and worked in a little bit of “if he's a Tenno then he's one of your kids, too.”

We've elected to switch up our guard/sleep pattern. Two of us stay with Inau, the other two stay belowdecks. If Stalker can get past three of us belowdecks, we might as well put more people close to the Operator. She feels better that way, too.

Overall, the latest attempt to kill her hasn't stopped her from trying to get through to Stalker. And honestly, he seems to be more receptive to listening to her now. My guess is that last time, he didn't focus on the fact he didn't want to kill her and his reasoning behind that, he focused on having been rejected and replaced.

He still won't have deep moral and political conversations with the resident teenager over a game of cards, and he has an odd habit of perching on things, but he will at least answer more questions. He answers in the same, accusatory, slightly pretentious manner of speaking (or single growled words), but he answers.

In other news, I am much better at bluffing than Limbo and Frost are. If Limbo doesn't have the chance to count the cards, and Inau doesn't try to tap into the somatic link to get an idea of whether I'm lying or not, I can fool all of them. Limbo taps his foot when he tries to bluff, and Frost gets this smug look. Inau curls in on herself, holds her cards closer, and smiles.

I think Rhino would be better than me, but he doesn't play games where we have to talk. Thank goodness.

The only other problem arises when Stalker decides to sit behind me and ruins my bluff by giving me suspicious looks. At one point I told him to knock it off, he was being unfair. He somehow made it about him being a captive, which, well, he is. Even Inau conceded that to him. Considering the circumstances there's not much else we _could_ do with him, so he'll have to deal with it for now. And stop ruining my bluffs.

He didn't try anything the past couple nights, so we're hopeful that the worst is behind us. Of course, there's always the possibility he's tricking us.

Inau also started doing missions again. Right now she's sticking to spying, or mobile defense, anything where she doesn't have to do a lot of killing, unless it's on a derelict. Then we can slaughter as many Infested as we please. Stalker still complains at her for it, and the two have argued the ethics of each mission. It's a bit of a headache, but if anything, it's setting Inau up for a career in politics. She hasn't learned to evade questions, she tackles anything Stalker throws at her head-on, but she works through her answers and stands by what she says.

Come to think of it, maybe she'd be a better lawyer.


	57. Data-driven

Dear Journal,

Simaris continues to pester us. He said that the data on Frost is all well and good, but, as always, he wants more. If we find anyone else who has an ex-feral, or find another feral. Which would end up meaning we adopt yet another frame, since that seems to be how Inau works.

He also said he'd heard of the legend of umbral frames and would reward us handsomely if we found a confirmed one and got data on it back to him. He said he suspects the Chroma that caused him issues was one, if we find him again.

I doubt we'll find Chroma. I'm sure Simaris and I have heard the same stories, umbras don't like to be found. As much as everyone likes the idea of being like Tam Benian and getting an umbra to work with you, it's not exactly a realistic prospect. How early can a story be considered a folk tale? I think Tam's tale counts.

I'm sure it would be a fascinating comparison to make, I'd love to know if there's something beyond chance that makes a warframe separated from an Operator turn feral or umbral. And Inau, nor the other Tenno, cannot live forever. I'd like reassurance my personhood will not slip away when she dies, when the last Tenno dies, and that keeping my mind won't eventually require subjecting more children to awful experiments.

Would the other factions of the system permit us warframes to live without our Operators? Maybe by the time we have to worry about that, we can change their minds. Or maybe by then, we'll all have been killed, or all the wars will be ongoing. Lotus will keep us fighting, because what else can we do?

Besides teach, and comfort, and protect?

Besides learn, and befriend, and build?

The system changed on us once. It will do so again. I may have to fight now to ensure the change is for the better, but once it has happened, I'll need something to do.

Something _I_ want to do.

Maybe something not related to keeping the others out of trouble. Something not about fighting. Something not about worrying Stalker is going to kill us all and is just biding his time.

Stars, what else do I have?

How do I find out?


	58. Hobby

Dear Journal,

Nobody on this damn vessel knows anything about undertaking a journey of self-discovery. Self-healing, yes. Inau in particular can and has talked for eons about it. But when it comes down to it, each of us has a prescribed, set way of life. Cephalon. Tenno. Warframe. Vengeance personified. The only one with much reason to reconsider is the last, and he's not the sort of person I want to travel with on this journey.

Limbo suggested I find a hobby. I have you, journal, but he said I needed something... generative. I record here. He said I could try writing something creative. It sounds hard. Swordfighting, axe throwing, all that, sound too similar to what we already do. Fishing is fun, but we can only go to Cetus every so often. Maybe I can borrow Rhino's camera drone and do some photography? Wait, does that count as recording instead of creating? Frost said I could join his conlang effort, but I want something _separate_ from the others. Something my own.

I did more research. Stars, there's so many hobbies out there. It's intimidating. Creating something... there's so many possibilities. Where do I start? How do I get into that mindset? Frost and Limbo both told me “inspiration,” though Limbo got more into it with a poetic description too lengthy for me to transcribe with any accuracy. When I asked Rhino if creativity and inspiration play into his photography, he sat me down, showed me a panorama of the sunset over the Plains, and nodded sagely at me.

I feel like I was imparted with some vast wisdom but I don't know what it is.

I've got an idea.

So, Stalker does not appreciate being told he needs a hobby and to quit wallowing in hate and misery. _You should try something,_ I sign. _Maybe papercraft, it looks fun. Or knitting! You could even donate stuff you knit to charity. Make a positive impact in the world._

“I am your reckoning,” he says. He hisses and postures like an angry kavat. It's still scary, I know what he can do, but I'm trying to...declaw him, continuing with the metaphor. At least in my own head. I don't want him to see the fear he causes.

_You can only do so much by destroying. You have to create, too. Look, you can make a baby hat. Imagine how many cold babies there are out there. We'll divide up the labor, Inau tackles the cause of the problem, and you and your Operator ensure everyone is cared for in the meantime. Important work._

I'm not sure what I'll try. I almost want to grab Limbo and make him accompany me to a couple stores, or help me pick. Do I get assistance on my path?

I hope so. I feel it would be incredibly lonely otherwise.

Or maybe I am just used to company.


	59. Nightmare

Dear Journal,

Inau had a nightmare. It roused all of us, but she reached out for me, and I told the others to rest, I'd handle it. I was on watch duty anyways.

I don't know how she managed to get belowdecks. Poor thing was a mess, her face all soaked with tears and snot, breath ragged. As much as I love the girl, she is an ugly crier. She sat with me in my nook, more like balled up in my lap and sobbed into my chest. I held her, and let her cry, and tried petting her hair like Rhino did with that small child. I felt her need for closeness, for knowing I was there. I felt how scared she was of me not _being_ there.

She did get to the point she could talk semi-coherently. Through wracking sobs she said she'd dreamed I was dead. Her dream-self felt the memory of being part of my mind and body when I died. She had to tear me apart with her own hands, burn what she could, and scatter the rest so nobody would steal and abuse my corpse. She'd been so devastated. So absolutely destroyed. Waking up barely helped.

Then she got into the deaths she'd caused. I couldn't console her. None of us would have been able to. We've killed so, so many times, and we will kill again. We will slaughter. We all know it. We have no life beyond killing. Everything else is a farce we built to pretend we're more than purpose-made machines. You can't change our purpose any more than you can change a gun's.

But Inau... she talked about how we can kill over a hundred people in a single mission. She extrapolated, she knew all of them (besides perhaps the Infested) felt the same thing she'd felt when dream-me died. Maybe not all of them had families, but enough did. Even if only one of them did, that was a family she'd broken, like how my death broke her up. That wasn't even getting into friends.

We barely made it to the washroom in time for her to get sick. We don't have a toilet or sink belowdecks, so I got her into the shower we use to get clean after missions. Ordis started the water while I cleared Inau's hair from her face (thank goodness it's short) and rubbed her back. He clucked over her, alternating between fear, concern, and disgust at the mess. Mostly concern. I'm thankful for that.

I don't know how long I sat in there with her. It felt like she'd never leave the grip of her nightmare, even with me right there. Not with all of us.

I looked over at some point – I swear I felt someone staring at me. Indeed, Stalker watched us from the doorway. Exasperated and tired, I turned and told him to go get her some clean clothes.

Honestly, I was amazed when he disappeared, slinking off towards the ladder. Maybe he saw it as an opportunity to check the defenses in Inau's room.

He did come back without incident, holding a set of clothes in one hand. I did shut him out while Inau finished cleaning herself up and changed. Which reminds me, I need to go get her nightclothes, she left them hanging in the washroom.

I took Inau back to my nook and she settled in with me. Everyone fell asleep soon – even Rhino, I think. He fell asleep standing up, resting some of his weight on his Scindo Prime, but I saw his head fall.

Everyone slept but Stalker and I. He crept over, and at first I considered striking first, especially when he sat beside me. I felt the electric crawl of his nullification field, more intense up close than afar.

He didn't hit us, or grab Inau, or any of that. He just watched. Which is in itself unnerving, but I swear I read curiosity in the tilt of his head.

 _Do you ever regret killing, like she does?_ I asked him.

His head lowered, and I think he hummed.

We sat there without a word between us for several solid seconds, perhaps half a minute.

When he moved, I held up the hand I'd been using to stroke Inau's shoulder, ready to strike. Stalker eyed me and leaned in close, back of his hand out. And, still watching me, he gave Inau's shoulder a couple experimental strokes, like I'd been doing.

She must have really been asleep. She rolled over, holding an arm out. I think she expected it to be Rhino or Limbo. I haven't asked her yet, nor do I know how well she can sense us and where we are, what we're doing while she's sleeping.

At first I held her back. But she _wanted_ to move, and Stalker seemed genuinely confounded by it all.

I maintain that her influence through Transference slowed my rational mind and she wiggled free. She was still partway in my lap, but otherwise _leaning on the Stalker!_ I thought we were all going to die. He held his hands up. Guess he thought we'd kill him.

I did not want to trust him. I'm still pretty sure he's biding his time. But I had to do something, and might as well encourage whatever dry drop of compassion kept him from killing Inau. So I told him, _Support her. Right now, if either of you move too much, she'll fall and wake up. Here, put one arm like this._

I minimized how much I had to touch him, and thankfully he took the instructions well. In the end it was the most awkward thing I'd seen, I'm surprised the discomfort didn't wake Inau up. Then again, she's fallen asleep on top of Rhino before. She stretched and looped her arms around his neck, I thought he was going to panic and shove her back to me, he went so stiff. After all, he's pretty fond of trying to kill her via strangulation and a sustained Void beam to his spine would be... decidedly fatal.

I had to ask. _Why are you being kind to her now?_

“Her actions eat at her heart.”

_If she'd had a choice, there's no way she would have been a soldier. Who knows? Maybe she would have made the Orokin empire a better place. More likely the Sentients, Infested, or Grineer would have wiped her out._

“The Tenno.”

_I'm talking about if they- if we never happened. I, personally, don't remember much of anything from those days. If we rebelled, I think we'd focus on the nobility, the slave-traders, those sorts. How much more do you remember?_

He actually recounted a story to me. I don't know if it's something Hunhow fed him or a lie he concocted or what, but he told me of being a guard, low-ranked, listening to the beat of Naga drums, watching with horror when the Tenno being honored struck at the ninth beat. Everyone who'd gathered, all the Orokin with status enough to get into the celebration, killed with less thought than it took us to take down even the lowliest Grineer.

I don't think we would be among the public face, those on the podium with syandanas clipped to our backs. The Primes would be there, for sure. Maybe Frost was there. Make that Frost was almost certainly there. I don't know what happened to his original Operator, but being a major part of the rebellion would make them a target. Leaving their Prime lost and feral would be the sort of disgrace they liked to inflict.

Right. At some point in the night, Stalker pressed a couple fingertips into the back of Inau's neck. She stirred and he stopped. I still didn't sleep. I need to sleep. Goodnight. Or good afternoon.


	60. Considerations

Dear Journal,

Simaris wants Frost back again. Apparently there's some things he wants to double check and new tests to run. I doubt much has changed in regards to Frost's mental or physical health, but the general consensus is we might as well stop in to get Simaris off our backs. Inau's frustrated, she wanted to continue practicing with Limbo. She's also heard that a couple of the syndicates stock mods related to him, and she's interested in a couple of them. The trick is finding one that won't conflict with one that stocks Ironclad Charge. Considering how many tabs on the Steel Meridian were open on the last tablet I used, I think I know at least one syndicate she's considering talking to.

I also found a page on the Arbiters of Hexis. They have specialized Limbo mods but, more importantly, they're interested in the Tenno beyond their role as soldiers. Something about them unnerves me. I think it's that they try to emulate us. There were also a couple mentions of divinity, or something like that. We're not gods, nor were the Orokin. Pretending we are is a quick way to disappointment.

What hobby should I invest in and tell Frost and Inau to pick me up supplies for?

 ~~Knitting~~  
 ~~Papercraft~~  
 ~~Woodburning~~  
Knot-tying  
 ~~Carving~~

Ordis wouldn't like the emissions from woodburning. Papercraft feels very... disposable. Paper is expensive, anyways, as you prove, my journal. Carving means another knife around the Orbiter, and we have more than enough of those. I don't like the idea of leaving a lot of needles and yarn around for the others (Stalker and the kubrow especially) to get into.

I guess I'm asking them for some rope, then. Hopefully nobody takes it for actual, practical purposes. I can practically hear Ordis drooling over the idea of something that might discourage Frost and Rhino from rearranging things on him. I'm also sure he's relieved Inau isn't looking at any other tanks.

The request is put in, Frost and Inau are happy to oblige. Limbo's inviting everyone who's staying behind to a card game. It sounds like he found a new one Rhino is willing to play, this should be interesting.

For fuck's sake. Not even finished with one game (I had no points, I was winning, for the record) when Ordis relays a message from Inau. Apparently Simaris got hold of a diplomat from the village Frost attacked. They don't think they'll get back for a while.


	61. Testify

Dear Journal,

They were right. Inau's been sending us regular updates, but she doesn't plan on returning to the Orbiter until the problem is solved. She's going back to the village, Ruimnem, to make amends.

Hen-Kil, the diplomat, did not expect to encounter Frost again, either, but they've managed to work something out. Inau reported that the man just about panicked to see him again, and the sight of him seems to be triggering an old aggressiveness in Frost. Nothing Inau can't handle, but it caught her by surprise.

She said that once she soothed Frost and Hen-Kil calmed down, the three had a _long_ talk. Inau explained how she and I helped Frost after retrieving him from his territory near Ruimnem, and that he's fine now, he wouldn't hurt anyone. She and Frost offered to do whatever they could to make reparations. So, they're going back to the village for Frost to basically stand trial in some manner and face the community he brought so much pain to.

The rest of us are playing lots of cards. I don't think Limbo knows what to do with himself without his living ice pack, so he distracts all of us to make up for it. All of us, but him especially, are learning just how much good Frost does for him, too. He's been much less mobile and puts more weight on his cane when he does walk around. I spent the night with him, he kept waking up, and I tried to knead the painful spots. We're considering having him sleep in Inau's bed to see if the soft surface helps. Currently, Polar Bear has taken it over.

We've also found some games and shows to keep us busy. Rhino of all people got really into them. He's not used to being left on the Orbiter for long stretches, so maybe he likes the action. Though, considering he's been watching a lot of the streamed Rathuum matches, maybe he misses the bloodshed in particular. Well, he and Stalker watch Rathuum matches, and growl at each other if things don't go as hoped. Limbo and I found some puzzle games to play together (sometimes just us two, sometimes Rhino too) and a multiplayer strategy for when we want to face off. Works great! He can't count cards if there's no cards to count!

Just got another message from Inau. She testified for Frost and told the people of Ruimnem what he has been doing since she began working with him. She says there's a family in town, a few of whom are the ones who confronted Frost in close combat and ended up pulling his coat off, which is how they knew about the dead chromatophores. The entire incident led to the clan's new name: the Deadhands. They are... leaning towards harsher punishment and greater reparations, needless to say.

She's staying with Hen-Kil and his family. Reactions have been pretty split; some of the villagers commend her for taking such a major threat away, some fear the connection she has with him and the power she wields. She's not surprised, and she's been finding ways to try and help out where she can. There's only so much people are willing to let her try, but she's been running around as much as possible outside of the trial.

She says the trial should be short, but deliberation may take a long time. She doesn't know when she'll get back, or when she'll have news for us. She sent Limbo her condolences and promised to get him something to help the pain in case something like this comes up again. He sent her a smiley face and a math equation. Here, I'll let him explain. I want to hold the answer for posterity.

Hello hello I sent my Operator some math. Well a situation like that, her mind will be full of things. _Social_ things. Purely social, cantankerous, messy things. I figured she needs another way, a refreshment for her mind. Puzzles, Mag, we've been playing puzzles. That's what I gave Inau, too. A break in the chains of doubt and uncertainty. Every time our minds connect I aim to teach her what I know. I look forwards to seeing if she can solve it.

Thank you, Limbo. You're as helpful as a Moa on a tightrope.


	62. Backstory

Dear Journal,

Limbo did sleep somewhat better in the bed. It's on the short side for him, and Polar Bear takes up more space, but he managed. Ordis and I have been trying to rig something to help him, because Helminth isn't helping. He won't open to any of us. Ordis has been telling him his services are needed, but I guess he thinks Limbo can handle it.

I think Rhino and Stalker are fighting each other for dominance. They're at least being very showy. Noisy and showy. It's definitely beyond grumbling about who they like in Rathuum matches. Sometimes I swear Rhino is going to return Broken War to Stalker the same way he got it. I'm staying out of it unless they decide they can't solve their problems without someone being seriously injured or dying. I'll play keyboard to try and drown them out.

It doesn't work. I'd crack them both over the head with it but it was expensive. I need to practice anyways, it's been forever since we got together and played.

Inau's room is pretty quiet. I think I'm going to stay in here with Limbo until this all blows over. Know that if he takes this journal and writes in it he wasn't allowed to. Hello!

It sounds like Stalker and Rhino just knocked over our entire arsenal. I'll check on them, I think I may have to break up a fight.

Never mind.

Inau wrote in again, thank goodness. She says she's going to be back soon. They've made a decision on Frost and-

Shit. They're going to separate the two. For a week. They want to see if Frost “really” changed. He is to sit vigil in the meantime. One patrol route around the edge of town, supervised, every day, but otherwise sitting still and silent in the middle of the village. Inau is to remain as far from Earth as she can get, another Tenno orbiting Earth will be on-call in case Frost snaps. In that case, their orders will be to destroy him. The Tenno let others in the network know she's not supposed to be anywhere near Earth, if she's caught both of she and Frost will be punished.

We don't even bring Frost into the Void while Inau is inhabiting him. He's been fine when she goes in with another Frame, but we don't do that for a week. It's the furthest place from Earth, though, if we enter it through Sedna. It's not even on the same plane of existence.

I've been genuinely afraid of losing Frost, Limbo, and Rhino before. I hate knowing that someone is _waiting_ to kill Frost, though, and he'd be in the same village near where we found him. We spent all this time and effort to avoid him dying feral, destructive, and mistrusted. If he dies now, we've failed the mission we set out upon that day we set down in the snowy nowhere.

I'm going to write down as much of the story that I can. The sooner, the better. I don't want to let anything more fade from my memory.

It was deep winter in that part of Earth. Not as cold as some of the other planets, but the chill sank deep. The village had sent out a distress call a couple days ago. They knew their attacker was a warframe, and despite their best efforts, they were unable to bring it down. I think either their pride kept them from seeking help earlier, or they feared the Lotus wanted them dead for some reason. Inau and I had just awoke, and jumped at the chance to prove ourselves and see more of the new world.

The trees were different. Massive evergreens, instead of the more tropical foliage we saw so much of. We couldn't land directly at Ruimnem, it was a day's walk along a trail from where the Liset dropped us. A long, cold walk. Pretty, at least.

It wasn't Hen-Kil who met us when we arrived. It was an older woman, I think her name was Yarrow-Lai. She explained the situation and described Frost and his habits. Said he seemed to strike at random, and they suspected he was chasing off hunting parties and getting them lost, perhaps killing them. The Corpus were willing to send food to make up for what they couldn't catch, but at exorbitant prices they couldn't afford. She said this warframe acted more like a beast or a vengeful spirit than a Tenno. I think that's when we realized he was feral and changed our tactic from “kill” to “capture.”

There had been copious numbers of dead Grineer in the area, too, ever since the attacks started. We saw some when we went out searching. Ordis reported some radio chatter related to what they were calling “Black Ice.” It sounded like they were planning to capture Frost, presumably for the same reason Vor put the Ascaris on us. We couldn't let that happen, we had to act fast.

I remember Yarrow-Lai wasn't happy about it when we prepared to leave in the middle of the night. She refused to let us go, even when she heard the Grineer transmissions. She was so adamant that they wouldn't be able to find Frost any easier than anyone else in the dark and we ought to stay until dawn so we could hunt in the light. We were practically at the village edge when she acquiesced and told us to just wait a few minutes.

We almost left after she shuffled off. I'm glad we didn't, she came back shortly with Rahailluk, who I guess must have been some sort of village priest, I never asked their exact title. They gave us a hunter's blessing, praying for our shots to be swift and effective and for us to return home safely, and wrapped a beaded, dyed cord around my waist. Thick, sturdy stuff. It was supposed to be for protection, I think, and many a hunter was known to use it in emergencies.

It took until dawn for us to find the first sign Frost may be around – frozen tree bark in unusual patches. Then it was footprints, still fresh despite the wind blowing snow around. Then it was ice hitting our back.

What a brutal fight. Frost couldn't do much more than try to hit me at close range. I had to try not to kill him or permanently injure him. It was a puzzle, to say the least. A puzzle that involved a lot of hitting him in the throat with my Bo to throw him off.

He heard the Grineer approaching first. At first I thought it was an unlucky patrol that started shooting at us. Then more Grineer emerged from around the tree roots. And more. And more. They weren't taking chances. We'd run out of time.

I remember actually letting them shoot up Frost, and letting him rip and tear through their ranks for a while. We fought alongside him, helped him in a few instances to try and show we weren't just another enemy. He got exhausted eventually, and that was the hard part. Dragging him, still trying to kick and scratch and fight, to somewhere clear enough for the Liset to pick us up, without succumbing to the Grineer.

In the end, we had to get up to the top of a tree. I don't remember how we came to that conclusion, but Ordis wasn't happy about it. Frost was pretty damn bloody by then. I smashed so many Grineer into the trees and ice to give us a few seconds' break and actually tie him to me. He wasn't happy about it, but whatever the people of Ruimnem made their cord out of, it was cold-resistant stuff, and he couldn't do much to break it with a Bo under his arms and a steady trail of black drops leaving him with every step.

Shoving him into the Liset's docking port was an adventure on its own. Trying to balance in the treetops and avoid getting too badly shot up while untying an angry feral and pushing him into a proper enough position for the port to lock him in. Failing the first time wasn't an option, the Grineer would be able to capture him in seconds if he fell or escaped. By the time we succeeded at getting him boarded the Liset had to leave to offload him and stop taking bullets. That was a fun day, fleeing the Grineer while staying away from Ruimnem. Ordis picked us up in the middle of the night at a cliff overlooking the sea, and we were out of there. Until we went back to report our success and return the cord. Someone else could use that sort of luck, I'm certain of it. Hopefully it has served others well.

I'm going to wait and try to intercept Inau when she gets here. She and Limbo need to work out an arrangement, anyways.


	63. Distraction

Dear Journal,

Inau and Limbo had a scuffle over the bed. Both are short-tempered recently, with everything that's been happening. They didn't even stop to see if they could both fit in it until I broke up their fight and made them try it. It only works if one's pretty much on top of the other, but it's better than nothing. I don't think Inau wants to sleep anywhere but her own bed right now, she needs some familiar comforts.

She also wants to bring me down to Ruimnem when she returns for Frost. I'm the one who they met in the first place.

Rhino's trying to distract her. He's decided that she's good on running and jumping and moving her own body weight, so he's trying to get her to lift the Fragor. I'm pretty sure it's bigger than she is, but she's putting so much effort into it.

She got it maybe an inch off the ground. Rhino was so proud. She dropped it and he picked her up and swung her around in a hug. I don't think he can purr but for a minute there he ignored that fact. I'm glad she's smiling, and I can feel that she's happy on some level. She's been so stressed, it's crushing.

I'm heading out soon. Guess I'm still testing the Drakgoon.

Lotus decided that partway through slaughtering the Corrupted was a good time to question Inau's decision to actually follow the rules and go as far away as needed. I had to stop and sit in a corner while Inau cried again. She just wanted to do anything to keep her frame safe, and she's afraid of retribution if someone catches her. There's not a lot of Tenno in the system, but there are enough, and she doesn't know who'd report her and who wouldn't.

In my opinion, she also needs some catharsis. The Corrupted are already dead, in a way, she doesn't need to think about the consequences of killing them. It's a mercy, honestly.

Inau pleaded for the Lotus to do what she can to make sure Frost is okay. I think it caught her by surprise, she said she knew that Frost Prime parts hadn't been seen in a while and thus he was becoming a rarer frame, but that wasn't the point. I know she hates seeing her Tenno in distress. She said she could monitor Frost through the somatic link. Inau knows that's a placating measure, she's not happy about it, but it's more than nothing. She plans on seeing how far she can take the Lotus' influence and good will if it comes down to it.

I worry about her some days.

I'll write more tomorrow. We got some food supplies and we're going to try to cook things with Inau's help. It's my turn tonight. I don't expect it to go all too well, but hopefully it's edible enough. Rhino's in charge tomorrow, I'll either do far better or be outclassed by just as far, I imagine.

If this little bonding moment makes Inau feel better, it will be worth it.


	64. Faltering

Dear Journal,

Time isn't easing Inau's psyche. The schedule of going out almost all day isn't distracting her. We're all so used to the fight that our minds wander with ease. The only time I've felt her slip into focus instead of being anxious was when she tried to take Limbo out. Both he and I can be “puzzles of survivability” as she puts it, but she still doesn't understand his powers, and the pain's not helping. It takes so much of both their willpower to keep going. He was stumbling and limping his way to the washroom when he got back. He passed out with the water running, Rhino had to carry him back to the bed.

Inau's staying with Limbo. She feels his pain, she's just as miserable. Ordis keeps muttering to himself about expecting the consequences, and reminding her of such issues next time she tried to make Limbo exert himself like that. I'm sure she feels awful about it, but right now she's too tired to do much of anything.

Maybe she'll sleep through rest of the week. I think all of us could use the quiet.

Of course, that calls for Polar Bear to begin running around and barking like something's chasing her.

Never mind. Stalker climbed up from belowdecks. She was barking at him. For whatever reason, he's keeping out of her way.

I told him there was no point trying to sneak into Inau's room, we'd already seen him. We had a guard kubrow, even. He didn't appreciate the joke, I'm sure, he got all defensive. Squared his shoulders, looked down at me, I think he even hissed at me.

“Other plans await,” he said. If I didn't know better, I'd think personal pronouns weren't part of his vocabulary.

 _You can't stream Rathuum in the Void. Don't you have your own tablet down there, anyways?_ I said. Seriously, he picked one of the tablets and gets all territorial when someone tries to use it. It's a pain in the ass.

“Rhino's mockery... sickening.”

Well, listening closer, I do hear the strum of a guitar and a sound that could actually pass for crooning. It didn't sound bad at all. The tune isn't familiar, so I guess Rhino made it up himself, because we haven't downloaded any new music before entering the Void. Odd. Whenever I've caught him playing he's either learning a new song or playing one he already knows. I don't know what Stalker found so insulting about it. Rhino doesn't exactly sing any lyrics. Did he aggressively play music in his direction?

“You know no fear of retribution.”

_It's hard to be scared of you when Frost kicked your guts open and I've seen Inau cuddle you in her sleep. We all adjusted. You've been making yourself at home, as I noticed._

Okay, he definitely hissed. It's so strange, interacting with a warframe who actually talks aloud. He doesn't even look like a Rhino or Valkyr! Their voices are key to boosting everyone around them, I don't know why Stalker speaks. He looks like some kind of Excalibur. Talk about a quiet frame.

“The Tenno is strong.”

Is he trying to excuse himself and why he hasn't made another attempt on Inau's life recently?

Note for the future: Stalker is just as, if not more, vulnerable to being smacked in the face with my journal as Frost and Limbo are. Don't read over my shoulder. Yes, even if I'm writing while talking to you.

_Inau is strong enough to look past your actions and decide your life is worth saving. She cares about her fellow Tenno more than she hates Hunhow. Tell me something: are you the victim she thinks you are?_

He sat down facing away from me. I don't think this conversation is going to go any further. Of course. What else should I have expected?

“Lua.” Wow, an actual response. Not what I was looking for, but yay for him. Not shutting down entirely.

“Operators are on Lua.”

 _Yes. You want yours back?_ It's not like Inau needs much machine assistance for Transference any more. We could probably keep another Operator with us there for a while.

He nodded. “Hunhow will destroy them. Slice veins, crack bones. Drink the blood and marrow of the last Orokin.”

I don't know how he got that imagery, I know some Sentients have club weapons but most of the time, they use energy. I also don't know if he's referring to himself as the last Orokin or all of us.

I'm going to go see if I can get him to play one of the puzzle games with me, see if I can get more out of him. He seems to be in a chatty mood.


	65. Lost

Dear Journal,

Limbo and Inau slept almost all of yesterday. He's still out of it, she's up and shambling. Apparently sleeping too much throws humans off. One of the first things she did was repeatedly apologize to Ordis for wearing out his favorite frame.

I let her know that Stalker wanted to find his Operator. She agreed to it. Who knows? Maybe he'll behave better once he too is not just a killing machine, he's got a Void-powered child, too. Or maybe his Operator will try and kill the rest of us with his abilities. He knows how dangerous Inau is if she wants to be.

Polar Bear was delighted to see her. The girl practically got bathed in kubrow kisses, she sat down to play and ended up on the floor telling Polar Bear to stop because it tickled.

She made a face at the suggestion of going after more of the Corrupted. She said today's going to be more of a down day for her. In particular, she's going to try meditating in her room. “Please don't make a ton of noise or try and kill each other, just for once?” she asked.

And for once, it's quiet! Not quiet because of tension, either. Well, a little bit because of tension, but that's just between Stalker and Rhino. I guess they're not all the way done with their dominance display yet. I don't know why they're doing it. They're not pushing each other around or anything, they're just staring hard at each other and getting a bit too close a bit too fast whenever they move around each other. It's almost funny.

I checked on Limbo. He's awake and wanted to move. I helped him out, he needed more than just the cane. He's stretching a bit; curling up around a small human for a day after passing out in a shower leaves you rather stiff.

We're going to play some puzzle games. Something where all Limbo _has_ to do is tell me what to do, or point and poke the interface a few times.

It's late evening. I just got Inau calmed down. It's hard when I don't feel calm.

She can't feel Frost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would have titled it "Lost Frost" but that would be more revealing than I wanted as a chapter name.
> 
> No rhymes for meeeee~


	66. Resilience

Dear Journal,

The week is up. Ordis took us out of the Void as soon as possible and we're speeding to Earth. Shortest route, highest speed. Inau's trying to reach Frost, she says she thinks she found a thread of him but she can't tell if she's making it up or not.

All I want is to get back and still have my brother. I'd fend off another Tenno, I'd fend off all the other Tenno if it meant I could get Frost back in the Orbiter safe and sound. I don't care if he's feral. We helped him once from nothing, and we kept him from relapsing when Limbo was new. He's resilient. He has to be. I need him to be.

Rhino has been silent. Not a sound. I know he can be just as quiet as any of us, but he usually doesn't bother. He snuck up on me and sat by my side, an arm around my shoulder.

Limbo joined us. He collapsed to the ground, Rhino hauled him into his lap. Rhino may not be Frost, but right now the familiar position seems to be helping Limbo. He's been so careful, he winces at sudden movement.

Even Stalker respects the somberness, in his way. He's watching us, perched on the arsenal of all things. I almost want to throw something at him, knock him down from his damn pedestal. When has he last cared about someone?

I'm just mad. I'm scared, and angry, and guilty of all things. I wish I could have stopped Frost from going to Simaris. It's the damn Cephalon's fault. Fuck him. When has anything ever gone right around him? Never.

I want this to all be over with. I want to be on our way to Lua. I want Frost to be throwing Limbo's cards in his face for managing to perform one of his tricks without Frost being able to figure it out again. I want to sit there and watch the stars and not worry about my family.

I know I have to go down there. What if I land, and we walk there, and it's a massacre? It's going to take us another day to walk there, another day Frost might not have. At least, if he relapses after we land, we'll be racing the other Tenno on foot. I'd have a chance to get there first and get Frost under control. I've done it once. I had the unintentional help of many Grineer, but this time I have Inau herself. If anyone can counter a feral Prime, it's an Operator. I know she can take him down without killing him, she's done it to Stalker. Shadow Stalker. Whichever. She told me about entering Transference with the Ravenous Golden Maw, too, so if she could handle a mind and body that strange for a little bit, she can take on a warframe she knows. Every second will count.

Every second already counted. I just didn't realize how true that was until he was gone.

I never realized how much I'd miss that pain in the ass. I'll get him back. I have to, for his sake. I don't know if I'll tell him I missed him, but I'll be happy to have him back all the same.

I need to prepare. Gather everything I will need. I guess I'll write again when I've faced the fallout.


	67. Fracturing

Dear Journal,

We arrived in Ruimnem early in the morning. “The sun was barely visible” levels of early in the morning. Most of the people recognized me, a few of the kids even came out to hug me. They feared Frost and Inau, but I was the savior who took the monster away from them, back to do it again.

Both Hen-Kil and Yarrow-Lai greeted us, along with Rahailluk and the captain of the guard. I guess they thought I'd prefer familiar faces. It was good to see Yarrow-Lai and Rahailluk again, I must say.

They held tension, though, all of them. Rahailluk described Frost's fracturing will. Hen-Kil and Yarrow-Lai described the preventative measures they'd come up with.

Those didn't prepare me for the sight. Frost, wrists bound in the same cord Rahailluk tied around my waist so long ago. Blankets of chains holding him down. When we approached his head snapped up and he froze for a moment, watching us, before looking down again. He shuddered every so often, and I saw the marks where he'd been scratching himself up. Ice coated everything around him in a thin but substantial sheet. I knelt in front of him and he pulled away, staring at me suspiciously.

Inau appeared at my side. I moved away and let her take my place. She gave no mind to the people watching her; by now, much of the village gathered to see if the beast would bite its master. Instead, she took Frost's hands in her own, stroking his knuckles with her thumbs. He did nothing. Didn't pull away, didn't try to sign, didn't give her a head-bump or an attempted embrace. Like all his mind drained out of him.

She couldn't maintain contact for long. By the time she did pull away, her hands were numb with the cold. Later, we had to treat her for second-degree frostbite.

“Frost,” she whispered, leaning in close enough to feel the cold rolling off of him, “Frosty, it's Inau. You know me. I know you know me. I've been you, remember?”

He still did nothing. So she took a deep breath, touched her forehead to his, and initiated Transference.

Even though they'd just seen her appear, the crowd gasped when she vanished. We all waited with bated breath. All except Yarrow-Lai, who tapped a staff against the ground and counted. Every second Inau managed to remain linked with Frost.

She only lasted to seventeen. She reappeared and stumbled backwards, eyes wide. Frost shifted. I got up and held her. She fought back tears, brave little soldier, and spoke in her most professional tone. “We have fulfilled the agreement. He has caused you no harm on his own. Let us go.”

Inside, I felt her thoughts. _He's gone again._

Numb, she and I stepped up to help lift off the chains. I did most of the work; they're heavy, and with everything they had on there, I'm not surprised they could weigh a warframe down, even one like Frost.

We got them off, though. He got up.

The first thing Frost did was smash his still-bound wrists into Inau's face.

I dragged him out of the village somehow. She managed to get a parting shot, a reflexive blast to the stomach. It stunned him long enough for me to bind him again, sling the ends of the cord around my waist. With Inau in my arms, her hands pressed into my chest, and him struggling against me, I took off running.

I only got a glimpse of her face. All the blood. The bruising. She dove into the somatic link again. I ran. I magnetized Frost into a stiff, dead weight, and I ran. I cursed myself for not binding him down earlier. Inau's blood made a weirdly warm trail that turned bitter cold in the mountain air.

We don't tire easily, not when we're working properly. Running a path that takes a day to walk, carrying a bleeding girl in your arms whose pain radiated back to you with every step and jolt, and dragging another warframe heavier than you are, that's one of the few things that does the trick.

Well into the night, Inau felt well enough to contact Ordis. Her voice cracked, moving her jaw and lips hurt so bad. He was aghast at the damage Frost did. I let him complain at Frost all he wanted, it didn't slow me down, and I knew how cathartic it was.

I don't even know what time it was when the Liset caught up to us. I set Inau in the snow and pushed Frost into place. I loaded myself and Inau up after.

She's in with Helminth now. Rhino and I got Frost into a locked room and I un-magnetized him. Limbo's sitting outside the door, devising ways to communicate. Right now it involves a lot of loud music.

Rhino's busied himself taking care of Polar Bear and tidying up Inau's room. She's plenty old enough to do it herself, and it's not like she has much to make a mess with, but if it makes him feel better.

I'm staying right outside Helminth's room until Inau's out of there. I pray that whatever strain he is, it's not contagious. Then again, Inau hasn't caught it already, she should be fine.

Odd enough, Stalker is sitting across from me. I guess he's concerned about his ride to Lua. With Frost in his current state, I don't know how soon we'll be able to get there. In the meantime, we can talk to Lotus about where his pod may be. Perhaps he can do it himself.

I need sleep.


	68. Onwards

Dear Journal,

Inau's looked better, but she's well enough. Helminth couldn't do anything for the (extensive!) bruising, but he cleaned up the blood, sealed up the cuts, done what he could with her broken nose, and cleaned up what he could of Inau's hands. They're wrapped in, well, my old syandana. Rhino cleaned it as thoroughly as he could first. It was useless as decoration, anyways.

She spent most of the day in with Frost. He's prowling, even while she talks to him, and I found new scratch marks all over his shoulders while checking him over. He hasn't hurt anyone, though. Not Limbo when he came in to visit, though he didn't react much to card tricks nor puzzle games. He hasn't shown any sign of using sign language, though he watches our gestures. He stopped at Inau's chatter and held her face and nuzzled her hands, but quickly let go and backed off.

He has to be in there. He has to be recoverable. He hasn't hurt anyone. ~~I know, logically, he could be avoiding hurting me since I bested him twice already (if he remembers the first time), and maybe he has memories of tussling with Rhino. Those could have set us up as worth deferring to. Inau and Limbo, he may see as below him in the hierarchy.~~ This is nonsense. Simaris' shit about how we “naturally interact” went nowhere.

He recognized the harm he did, though. On some level, he knew the wounds he gave Inau were bad. On some level, he cares about her.

I almost forgot to get Inau to eat. Rhino made... something with lots of reconstituted bits. Granted, that's how most of our cooking goes. The difference between Rhino and the rest of us is that he uses spices to the point you can smell them through the whole ship. It's the only reason I remembered Inau needed food.

Oddly enough, Stalker seems to have gotten interested in food. We keep a close eye on him when he gets near it, I don't know what he'd use to poison Inau but I'm sure he's considered it. Mostly he sits there and reads labels. Inau keeps offering to let him try some, and his response is always to stare at her like she's speaking complete nonsense. Which, really, she is. I'm sure he subsists on Void energy like the rest of us. My best innocuous guess is he's figuring out what his Operator will eat once we retrieve them.

I hope he leaves cooking duty to the rest of us.

Limbo, Stalker, and Ordis did try to get in contact with the Lotus about finding Stalker's Operator. Ordis had to route her to Inau before she'd communicate anything, and all that amounted to “I will try to determine his Operator's location and send you the coordinates.”

I don't expect her to trust him. He's done all he can to try and kill her children. Hopefully she sees this as a step in the right direction. If he wasn't in on what the rest of us were in on, what Natah did to hide us all away, would his Operator even be on Lua?

Then again, I don't remember anything involving a revolution, so maybe Natah took us all without checking who was on “her” side and who wasn't. I can't imagine Inau supporting the Orokin Empire, I can't be sure if the Lotus' grace extends to neutral parties only, or if all of us Tenno are worth saving in her eyes.

We'll be at Lua tomorrow. Ordis is taking it slow, burning it from the Void to Earth wasn't exactly good for the engines. We'll sort things out once we're there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else excited for Stalky Boi 2 next week?


	69. Alien

Dear Journal,

It's hard to sleep with visitors. Inau and Polar Bear were the first, the former cuddled up on me, the latter slept at my side. Both humans and kubrow puppies are quite warm.

Stalker isn't. Thankfully, he didn't get the idea in his head to try cuddling with me. He just crept over and sat there, like he did after Inau's nightmare. Didn't touch her, didn't touch me, didn't touch Polar Bear. Try as I might to get comfortable, I couldn't ease my nerves enough to sleep. I know that, in the day, Stalker's face shows too much detail, all the folds and striations that are... memorably yonic. But at night the red glow looks just like his mark. It lingers in your mind.

I considered putting Inau on him again, testing how effective she is at disarming him. I didn't want her to have to hit him with a blast or her beam with her hands healing from frostbite, though.

If his Operator is anything like mine, he'll have his hands full soon enough.

In all honesty, I'm amazed how much he's calmed down. I'm not sure if he's given up, or if he still has a plan in mind, or Rhino's put him in his place, or what. He hasn't hurt us – not physically, he seems fine with trying to cause emotional pain – since the night after Inau painted his fingers.

Which, well, guess what she did with Frost. Limbo's helping, we don't want her handling Frost with her injuries, and Limbo enjoys helping out. I sat in on their session and watched as Inau carefully brushed the last of her sparkly red onto the tops of Frost's fingertips, talking to him all the while. He held still for her and bobbed his head to the conversation. She kept talking about her attempts to initiate Transference with him, but his mind is “still too alien.”

People have tried taming feral frames before. I'm looking up their stories right now, and trying to run odds. There's incredibly few examples, no good for statistics. Only a few of those succeeded in their task, and that's counting us.

Nobody has tried to do it twice on the same frame. The only other person I found whose frame relapsed immediately destroyed the frame – an Ember who, like Frost, threatened innocent people. We're forging a new path somewhere I wish we didn't have to. Just once, I'd like a guarantee that it'll be okay.

When we go down to Lua, I'm supposed to accompany Stalker. Inau doesn't want to butt heads with Stalker as Rhino, and Limbo doesn't want to make it take longer than absolutely necessary. That's what he told me, anyways. If Stalker were to attack one of us, I'd rather it be me than any of the rest. I'll fight to the last beat of my heart for all of them.

If the Lotus doesn't get back to us tomorrow, Inau's sending Stalker and I down to Lua on our own. We'll search the reservoir until something feels right. Most of the Operators have been removed at this point, anyways.

I'm not sure whether to welcome the distraction or be angry that Stalker chose now to announce he wanted his Operator back. The Frost I know may be dead and gone, all I can do right now is wait and see. Even if he's alive, we've confirmed he can and will go feral with enough distance, or when the Void is involved. Will he be able to recover fully? I don't know if Inau will feel safe in the Void ever again. Which means we can only hope we never encounter Sentients.

Hunhow will know our weakness.


	70. Lua

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey dudes, quick warning, I know Frost's been self-harming some in quick mentions, but this chapter goes into a little more detail on that.

Dear Journal,

I don't know.

Stars.

My hands are still crusted with Frost's blood. I don't know why he scrapes himself up. They heal up quickly, but it works best with clean wounds. Herding him to the washroom was challenging enough without having to look at the marks, or watch him writhe and twist away while I cleaned them.

That's... a minor point to today, maybe. I'm exhausted. Not physically. Walking around Lua isn't hard on me. Nor is moving one squirming warframe to the next room. It's just- everything is weighing down. Frost's condition. Everyone's fear for him. Stalker.

I need to explain Stalker.

Ordis deposited us at the reservoir. Lotus finally - _finally_ \- gave us an idea of where Stalker's Operator could be. After all, if he could pull palace guard duty, he was a known Tenno. I only had my staff, we didn't want to give him too many opportunities to take something and fight.

He could have run, too. I don't know where. He gets around the Origin system somehow. I guess if he wanted to teleport away, he could have. He won't respond when I ask why he doesn't.

It was also strange, seeing him in more natural light. The scarring from the fight is so obvious, all raised and rough. I adjusted to how he looked in the Orbiter's lighting, but now I can't un-see it.

He caught me staring at his arms and belly multiple times. He stared back and walked faster. No awe for the architecture, all its gold and ivory. The Orokin spared nothing for their secret stash of Void children. I'm surprised he didn't spend any time marveling at it, I expected him to use it as material for one of his rants. He wanted his Operator more than anything, I guess. I understand the feeling.

I didn't linger. I couldn't, not with his pace. He knew where he was going.

The pool sat still, its waters undisturbed. The Lotus' coordinates led us to a different part than where Inau emerged, almost across from her pod. I reached into the somatic link, asked Inau how she and Rhino knew which pod was hers. They'd felt it, and it responded to Rhino's presence.

Stalker stepped up, same as Rhino. The pod rose from the water, slipping out with but a few ripples. Standing upright, it opened.

Empty.

I stared. Something must have been wrong, the system must have glitched and given us a wrong pod. The Lotus said all awakened Tenno were accounted for, and the pod didn't belong to any of them anyways. The data was garbled, corrupt, but it definitely wasn't anyone known in the system.

Stalker ran. He pulled himself up, grabbing at the interior as if his Operator could be hiding in the tiny, confined space. It revealed nothing, all its secrets absorbed into Orokin black.

I approached, keenly aware of my staff in case he tried to fight, but ready to try and comfort him, too. When I got close, the smell of death hit me hard enough to make me stumble. All sweet and mineral. He's trapped in a Transference loop, without a body to return to. Unable to separate Operator and warframe.

He fell back, and the pod sunk into the pool again. He let me grab his shoulders and pull him back; I felt his defeat. My fingers sunk into muscles usually kept taut for fights. He didn't look at me. He said nothing, didn't even hiss or growl. What could we have said? All of our awareness, we know it's because we have someone with us. Child, sibling, commander, however that someone creates themselves, they're _ours._ Like part of our psyche made physical, made whole unto itself. Instead, his human mind eroded his warframe's and he didn't notice. Even if he could transfer out now, all he'd leave is a shell.

We barely begun to walk away when the lights flickered. We didn't even stop to look around, we ran. He teleported in flickers and jumps, appearing further and further ahead of me without glancing back. Soon he was out of sight.

I closed the gap to the sound of Shadow slamming his body into the wall. Stalker kicked and grabbed at the hand around his throat. He got too close to escape and Shadow smashed him into the wall again. He trailed two fingers down Stalker's chest and stomach, lingering on the scar neatly bisecting his belly.

I hesitated. Inau's focus wasn't strong as usual, preoccupied with Frost. Unless I called to her, I was as alone as I could get. Stalker's life and death rested on me. I could let him, or at least that part of him, die. One less person in the system dedicated to eradicating the Tenno. The murderer of so many frames, gone. The unlovable piece of shit who attacked my family.

Shadow, in usual Stalker fashion, didn't pay attention to me. Didn't seem to know I was there. If he killed his target and left, I walked back to the Liset without worry. Not about Stalker springing on me, not about Shadow hunting us, not about the empty pod.

We still needed vital information out of him, though. About Hunhow's plans and such.

I crept up behind Shadow, staff at the ready. The mute crackle of my nullified energy felt too loud for the task's necessary silence.

“The pure form of weakness,” Shadow growled, driving a thumb into the soft spot under Stalker's jaw. “Expunged. Mind and body worthless. Casting you out only strengthened me.”

I didn't have time for the mercy versus hate or justice or whatever this was debacle. I brought my staff down in front of his throat and pulled him back, ramming my head into the back of his neck. I cast him aside, grabbed Stalker, and ran.

He teleported. Instead of Lua's ornate ruins, I found myself in thick, oppressive nothingness. It flowed around me like sludge.

We reappeared in normal reality for a few seconds, Shadow hot on our trail. Blades of energy flew at us.

One hit. The pain dug into me. Both of us staggered, the impact shattering its way through us. Time enough for Shadow to teleport on top of our heads.

I punched him. No time to grab my staff, so I hit him straight in the center of his face. The _whump_ satisfied, but it wasn't enough to throw him off.

Stalker dug into Shadow's shoulder and flipped him away. When Shadow rolled onto his stomach and grabbed at our ankles, Stalker teleported away.

We didn't keep more than a couple dozen meters' lead on Shadow the entire time. The need to flee, to survive, shoved the pain of battle to the background. I hurt, but I didn't slow. I couldn't. Everything relied on me getting away as fast as I could.

Seeing the Liset was a miracle. Channeling Rhino best I could, I got a good grip on Stalker's shoulders and charged up to it. I shoved him into the warframe compartment and rolled into the main storage through an open side door.

Energy blades rocked the ship. We took off to the sound of Ordis saying, “Mag! Why didn't you _murder the bastard when you had the chance?_ ”

I don't know which bastard he was referring to. I'm not asking, not while Stalker's around. When we got back, I told him to explain events to Inau and immediately left to handle Frost. Hence the blood. Standing in the warm water and letting it flow helped me, too. I don't hurt nearly as much.

I found Inau sitting with Stalker. She's trying to make her way against his side, get in the physical contact both us frames and she enjoys. I don't think she knows how to comfort someone without it, now. He doesn't know what to do about it besides bristle vaguely and refuse to answer her most basic questions. If he remembers his name. If he knew when the Transference loop started. Why he ended up in it.

Rhino's prowling around them, Inau should be safe. I need sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, oops, Stalky Boi 2 wasn't true (:
> 
> Not in the way Mag and Stalker thought.


	71. Shanty

Dear Journal,

Frost showed some progress today. With some guidance, he helped ease Limbo's pain with the careful application of cold he usually does. He's still nonverbal and arguably still doesn't understand language. He's being more aggressive towards Rhino, but it seems to be the more playful stuff. If nothing else, I think we're his family again.

I admit I'm halfway waiting for everything to go sideways. I don't like waiting for the next disaster or setback, but I need to be ready for them nonetheless.

Last night, I got lonely. Okay, maybe not lonely, but the emotional wear got to me. Limbo shared a room with Frost, but only after stealing some of Inau's blankets. After his conversation with Inau, Stalker curled up in the nook he's claimed, back to us, and hasn't moved since. I tried sleeping in my nook, it didn't work, I gave up and went to join Rhino.

He's really not all that comfortable. He's happy to cuddle, when I got close he held an arm up and let me settle in without an issue, but his armor juts at some strange angles. I learned the hard way he won't let anyone be against his back, either. I crawled over him and tried (his little stump tail thing dug into my back), but he flipped over again.

Still, I managed to sleep in his proximity. Something about his presence _is_ soothing, I'll give him that.

He and I got some practice in on our instruments, too. The music feels empty without a bass. Limbo tried it, but he doesn't have the same energy Frost does. Stalker grumbling at us wasn't all that encouraging, either.

Okay. I got frustrated with him. So I took the bass from Limbo, shoved it into Stalker's hands, and told him that if he had a problem with the music, he could play his own. Show us how to do it.

Holding his gaze on my mask, he stood and slowly walked up to stand by Limbo. He tested the strings, adjusted the tuning a bit, and started playing. The tune was slow, either he didn't quite remember how it went or it was supposed to be mournful. Of all things, he and _Ordis_ began singing, too. I'll ask Ordis for some of the lyrics, I was too stunned to commit any to memory.

Sunk in the black, all we see/  
The glowin' auroras old Sol leaves

Sunk in the black, all we see/  
Asteroids stroking the ship's belly

Sunk in the black, all I see/  
Grey, grey hull all around me

Stalker has no idea where he learned the song nor how to play bass. He kept it up for a good couple minutes, though, with Ordis' accompaniment. He tried to push the bass back to me but I fought against him, dancing around to keep him from getting it in my grasp while I signed, _Practice with us, do something for fun for once in your life._

I think it was out of spite or maybe social pressure, but he stuck with us and played along. Limbo went to sit down and tapped his cane against the floor to provide our beat. All together, it got Inau to peer at us from Frost's room and encourage him to listen, too. She clapped for us when we finished each song. Frost poked his head out after a song, watching us with a dull curiosity.

Shit. Ordis confirmed what I feared. We're running low on supplies, food in particular. We're scraping up the last in the crates that serve as our pantry. We have to get to Cetus, or a relay, somewhere we can pick more stuff up. Probably a relay. Ordis doesn't trust what they get in Cetus. “They have a mostly-dead Sentient on the loose! They eat flesh from an Orokin tower! Those _possess_ people, Inau!” That kind of stuff.

Inau doesn't want to leave the ship, but she doesn't want us to get cooped up, either. She says she's fine on the ship, she's been out for plenty long enough as it is, but I feel the cabin fever getting to her. I don't know if Frost will be in a state where Inau can manage a somatic link with him by then. I hope so, she needs to get out for a reason beyond a mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He caught me by surprise there. Got some worldbuilding out of it, at least.
> 
> Also, please excuse my attempt at song writing. Haven't done that since elementary school.


	72. Aggression

Dear Journal,

Another cuddle pile night last night. It came about oddly. Inau stayed up much too late working on rotating through what we don't use in the arsenal and picking out blueprints to construct, and passed out somewhere awkward, I think on the foundry. The rest of us were sleeping, or mostly asleep, so we didn't notice. Not until Stalker fetched her and brought her belowdecks.

She stirred when he deposited her on Rhino. She reached out in a broad swathe over the somatic link, and grabbed Stalker's wrist. He slipped free without issue and went to huddle alone in his nook while the rest of us responded to the request and joined the pile.

Also, found out someone didn't lock Frost's room. I woke up and tried to step down but kicked him in the head instead. Judging by the way he swatted at me, he didn't appreciate it. He didn't react when Limbo rolled a little too far to the side and fell on top of him, though.

We're going to let Frost roam as he pleases. He already tried to pounce on Polar Bear, so she's locked in the room with the Transference chair. He and Stalker have also been testing each other, getting up in each other's space. It's not even Stalker starting it! It's Frost! Like he doesn't even care he has to look up when his chest is practically touching Stalker's.

Fuck. I just had to break up a fight between them. Getting between two angry warframes determined to get at each other's throats is a painful, painful process. I'd feel better if an Eidolon crushed me underfoot.

They started again. Fuck it. I'll let them go at it. If one of them gets hurt, it's their own damn fault. I'm not getting my arm wrenched halfway out of its socket again. What I am going to do is let Inau know and tell her to leave them be until they settle the score.

Well, she, Limbo, and I finished a level in the puzzle cube game before they went quiet. I checked, both of them are bleeding, but it's all shallow wounds. Frost was still standing and Stalker was on the ground, so I guess we know who won. Inau grabbed a couple washcloths, I can hear her berating both of them for their antics from here.

I peeked just in time to see her go to them one at a time, take their head in her hands, and tell them firmly, “You need to stop.”

Nice things about being mute: I couldn't alert them to my presence by laughing. Stalker bristling when Inau touched him set me on edge, but watching a human who came halfway up to my chest with a bird-small bone structure tell the most notorious hunter in the system to de-escalate instead of getting into fights? Very different story.

I asked her why she did it, got in his face. She said that if this is going to work, she can't be afraid of him. She doesn't think he'll kill her, he's tried and stopped himself, and he's had plenty of opportunities since then. He's a Tenno, same as her, deep down. On top of that, he's got a strict moral code. Lotus liked him enough that he got a pod at some point, he had no proof she'd been part of the rebellion, _plus_ she saved his life.

She's unharmed, that's what matters. She's unharmed and I don't hear any more fights. Everyone better spend the day convalescing. I'm going to spend it with Rhino, Limbo, and Inau.

It's night. Today went pretty good. I feel less like one of Polar Bear's chew toys, Limbo's sufficiently shown off his problem-solving skills and strutted about it for the next couple days at least, and Inau is wrapped up in a blanket cocoon that Rhino is in turn wrapped around just because, not due to nightmares or anything.

Maybe I'll try to organize another movie night. Just for us, of course. But I think it'll be fun.


	73. Disappearance

Dear Journal,

It feels like forever since we've been to a relay. We drew up a to-do list together.

1\. Tell off Simaris. Punch him?  
2\. Get Mag string for knots.  
3\. Resupply.  
4\. Say hi to Darvo and Clem.  
5\. Don't forget kubrow food.  
6\. Punch Simaris again.

I know 2 is for me, but I have to say, 1 and 6 are my favorites. Inau's still trying to create a long-term connection with Frost, so she's staying aboard while I go out, but I think I'll enjoy taking my turn at Simaris. How the tables turn, sadist.

Should I change my color scheme, in case Valkyr or one of her Operator's frames is around? It wouldn't be for long, and oh great Inau's giving me that look. She loves helping us pick colors. It's only temporary. I'll be back to my normal blue by the end of the day.

I think we spent half an hour going through our options and making choices. Inau tried to get Frost to pay attention and help out, he loves this kind of stuff, too. He spent more time handling the palettes and changing his chromatophores at random than anything. I ended up primarily light pink, with purple and blue on the other channels. It's not bad, I still prefer my usual, but this is all right.

Well, I'm going to head out. I'll write about fighting a Cephalon when I come back.

Oh, stars, how did it all go wrong this fast?

An Orbiter almost crashed into the relay. Its Cephalon was a mess, and when people boarded to see what happened, they found the Operator dead in his Transference chair. The Cephalon had all his warframes locked away, the only thing keeping the investigators from getting mauled and killed. Someone hacked into a detective's drone, the footage was all over the networks before they got halfway through their initial inspection. I was foolish enough to tap into a livestream.

Multiple Tenno recognized the pattern of the greatsword that broke the boy's chest open. Like with us, they had seen it in their warframes, cracking armor and bone.

On the wall, the killer had written in the boy's blood, “Each drop, each breath, shall be repaid a hundredfold.”

By the time the Cephalon regained enough sense to describe a dark figure, an unknown warframe she could only guess was a modified Excalibur, we all knew who it was.

It took all I had not to run back home. I reached for Inau, made sure she was okay, and clung to that while I slipped away from the growing clumps of concerned onlookers.

The boy wasn't even a year older than her.

It wasn't until I was at the Orbiter loading docks that she began to panic, and I broke into a run.

Rhino and Limbo are currently searching the relay. I'm going out later tonight to pick up for one of them, probably Limbo.

Stalker's missing, and so is Broken War.


	74. Mercy

Dear Journal,

We've spent all night and day searching. Mostly Rhino and I. Limbo's exhausted, and currently serving as the only thing keeping Frost from prowling around. Stalker's back, along with the sword.

What got us on the right path was a Mag unfortunate enough to find him first. He'd hit her hard, one cut biting deep into her neck, the other sweeping from stomach to collar. It was recent, enough so for me to run up and revive her. I asked her where he went but he's still in the habit of teleporting after an attempted kill.

For whatever reason, he didn't go far. An alert went out on various Tenno frequencies. A Chroma found him and needed help taking him down. They were two decks below us.

I feel sorry for leaving the other Mag, she was in no shortage of pain. But I had to run.

All the Tenno on the station were out for blood. I couldn't blame them. The pack caught up with me in a minute. A Loki switch-teleported with me, leaving me trying to regain my balance and not get trampled by the pack of tanks I found myself one step ahead of while he took off running. Zephyrs, Novas, Lokis, Ashes, all broke away. Equinoxes worked together with Volts until everyone ran at a sickening sprint.

All I've been doing since that moment is cursing the damn fool's name.

By the time I and a couple dozen more Tenno found him, he'd backed the Chroma into a corner. Both he and Chroma were bloody, and a couple of the wounds Frost gave him were open again. Neither had fatal wounds, though. Not even close. This being a relay, many of the Tenno weren't armed. Powers died as they hit the edge of Stalker's nullifying field.

It didn't matter. Everyone was ready to tear him apart with sheer numbers and bare hands.

I led the charge. I took advantage of the pause as everyone waited for him to teleport away, or marveled at the fact they had the hunter trapped, or hit the wall of deep-set fear he brought. I ran in and dove, tackling him.

In that moment, I didn't know if I was trying to save him or kill him.

He made the decision. The sludge of teleportation surrounded me. The air smelled like metal, then disappeared, then we were home. Scared the shit out of everyone else.

I didn't get the chance to let go of him before Inau used me as a conduit to appear right in front of him, shaking with rage. No mind paid to the greatsword in his hands, smeared with black.

“What did you do?” she asked. It wasn't the only thing on her mind – I got a glimpse at that, it's still a whirlwind, but it was a maelstrom then. _”What did you do?”_

He pushed me off and straightened up, closing what little gap there was between him and Inau. He shifted his grip on Broken War. Void energy, mishandled and dumped into the link, crackled across me, her, all of us except him.

Rhino charged in. His roar is still ringing in my head, and I think he cracked the wall where he smashed Stalker into it. Nullification didn't matter. “Big thing smashes into smaller thing,” is a well-storied strategy, encoded not by the Void but by physics. And if there's one thing Rhino has no shortage of, it's momentum.

Broken War hit the ground. Stalker hit the wall, head snapped back by the heel of Rhino's hand under his chin. He couldn't break Rhino's grip. While I retrieved the sword, Inau strode up, ready for an interrogation.

What an interrogation. She refused to take silence for an answer. And, in the circumstances, he really couldn't afford to give it.

We ascertained he left after the report came in. Analysis on Broken War proved it didn't have human blood anywhere on it, nor residue to suggest it had been cleaned recently. Ordis even compared its measurements to the ones he'd taken before giving it to us and checked for microscopic marring to see if Stalker scoured some of the metal off. He hadn't.

That in itself is a major relief. He supplied that information quick, I think to prove he was safe to keep aboard the Orbiter.

 _Why_ was another matter.

At first, all he said was, “Shadow.” It frustrated everyone, Inau most of all.

After an hour of prodding, he held a hand out, fingers splayed. The nail polish wore off long ago, but we knew what he thought. He said, “Weakness embodied. Shadow shed it, built the strength to do what must be done.”

“Mercy isn't a weakness,” Inau snapped. I mean snapped, too. For a second she sounded far older. Angrier. Like she'd lived the years we slept through.

They argued it. They argued it at a fever pitch, spurred on by a dead boy without family left to mourn him.

Until she glanced at Rhino, still holding Stalker to the wall, down at herself, at the rest of us. “You were protecting him, weren't you?” she said, all the anger gone in a rush. “You wanted to keep your warframe safe. Because you made him, or he was made for you, and it's like being given your family back.”

He thought about it before nodding. Just once. Maybe he lied about it to make it stop? I don't know. Rhino let him go and he hid the falter in his first couple steps well. Not well enough for us, but Inau didn't notice.

I need to wrangle Frost back into the washroom, then I'm probably going to find the first vaguely comfortable place and pass out.


	75. Ground

Dear Journal,

We've grounded the Orbiter. In the middle of nowhere.

I'll start at the beginning.

The day started as normal. Inau got herself something to eat and we started planning our next move. We didn't want to be near the relays for now, not until things calmed down. Rhino kept pointing out Sedna, he wants to go fight bigger things I think. Or that it's on the farther range and not as many Tenno will be there? Limbo and I wanted to go to Neptune, somewhere he could see what he can do. Stalker watched us, and Frost just poked at the star map.

We'd just decided on going out to Sedna and moving in towards Neptune when Ordis announced the last delivery of supplies awaited us at the airlock. Inau and I went to go get it.

When we opened the door Valkyr darted inside. Ordis immediately began yelling at her for ~~intrusion~~ unexpected visit. I tried to keep her away from the star map, but she kept signing about everything going on and how we shouldn't let each other be alone, and she hadn't seen us in forever, and she was getting concerned with how quiet we all were being, now coming to outright suspicious.

We couldn't stop her in time. She saw Stalker as he dropped belowdecks.

I heard him running in the split second before Valkyr screamed. She didn't need Hysteria to dive after him and start tearing into him. I leaped down just in time for him to throw her off his arms and onto the ground. He pinned her, twisting her arms behind her back, sitting high enough she struggled to scratch at him with her clawed feet. I think he said something about the futility of her anger.

It took Inau, Rhino, and I to begin separating the two. Rhino had to run in and knock them over before they let go and backed off enough they didn't immediately begin fighting again. Valkyr seemed to realize what was going on, she saw the extra nook prepped for someone to sleep in, Stalker's treated wounds, the fact we weren't pulling her back so we could beat him to death instead.

 _Why are you harboring him?_ she asked. She backed away from us, gaze locked on Rhino, who held Stalker back as he twisted and bucked.

Inau tried to argue about how there wasn't just one Stalker and the Tenno don't need any more enemies, but Valkyr was just as upset as the rest of us were when Inau brought him back. I don't remember all of what was said or signed. All I remember is _Traitor._

We didn't catch Valkyr as she ran out. There's no point to it, her Operator knew it all.

As soon as she was off the ship Ordis locked the doors and we took off. We couldn't hide in the Void, not with Frost. And where better to go than the cradle of humanity? We needed somewhere we could go off the grid without severely limiting how long we could survive.

Other ships broke off from the relay behind us. Ordis tried to outrun them but they chased us to Earth. He told Limbo and I to load up in the Liset. If they followed us, it bought the rest more time, and if we managed to get down to Earth, we could find somewhere for everyone else to land.

I don't know why the Lotus didn't step in. Was she willing to sacrifice one child for the rest to satisfy their vengeance? She'd already lost one of us.

They must have chased the Liset. I couldn't see or hear anything in the frame compartment, all I got were Ordis' reports that the Orbiter was breaking away from the engagement, and for us to watch out. He found somewhere remote and brought us in for a landing.

Limbo and I were ready to disengage when they shot us out of the sky.

We didn't have much time before they'd finish their swing around the site and come in to ensure we were dead. Limbo took the brunt of the damage, being in the storage compartment and not the warframe one, where there's additional protection. Both of us are burned, cut, and battered.

Limbo came up with the scene. He took his dagger and carved off flesh from both of us that was too burned to feel or function. He told me where to put it, laying out a crash more severe but, according to physics, entirely possible. Even if someone was somehow able to tell my chromatophores apart from his, they'd see that Inau took one warframe as well as Stalker. After all, both the bastard and Limbo are primarily black. With the char, it's impossible to tell the exact shade apart.

Then came hiding ourselves. Anyone with a Synthesis scanner could follow our trail, even if we covered our tracks. Instead, we piled together under a thick but relatively safe-looking part of the wreckage, digging into the mud.

Hearing the other landing craft approach and slow, waiting for the other Tenno to clear the scene, ranks as one of the most terrifying moments I've seen. And I have seen plenty. Both of us, trapped in this tiny little spot, our wounds throbbing and smeared with mud, waiting to see if we were found out.

One of the Tenno stopped short at our hiding place. I heard the thunder clap of Transference, and one Operator spoke.

“Should we check under there, see if they're really dead?”

A pause, then, “Yeah, that doesn't look too stable. We'll deal with it later. Let's go get that Orbiter then.”

We only left when we heard their craft lift off and leave. If they come back, they're going to notice the missing bodies. If they give the bits of flesh a more thorough examination, they'll notice the way the edges are cut.

I just want to be able to get home before then. Limbo and I are moving carefully, we cleaned up our tracks as best we can and we're trying to keep to a stony streambed. The water's frigid, but it seems clean enough for us to wash our wounds. Still, from what we gathered from Ordis, we're three days out from the Orbiter, and not in any shape to cut that time down. For now, we've made our camp under the roots of an old tree. Limbo's asleep in my arms.

I'm glad I thought to grab you, Journal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oho? What's this? We're hitting the endgame?


	76. Hidden

Dear Journal,

It's the second day and we're exhausted. Limbo's struggling to walk like this, and that means I have to pretty much carry him. Inau shows up when she can to help him and update us on what's going on with the rest. They're trying to hide the Orbiter, which for now means covering it in foliage. Inau wants to make it look like a cabin or something. I don't know if that will work, the ship is massive. She doesn't want to leave Ordis behind, though, she already feels bad for leaving him awake while she underwent the long sleep.

Our injuries are healing decently, that's something. Some of my lacerations have sealed. Limbo looks in better shape than he was at first, but it's taken a toll on him either way. One thing Inau and I did agree on: we need to maintain access to the Orbiter, even if we don't live there. I suspect Helminth puts something in the air that helps us heal.

We're watching for any more landing craft. We've hidden when a Grineer vessel passed overhead, but it was high up. I don't think they've set up a base here or anything. Certainly nothing we have registered. I hope they don't find anything here of interest.

Inau came back to wish us a good night. She said they examined the area and they're considering making a home that's partially underground. Sounds adorable.

I'm tired.


	77. Camouflage

Dear Journal,

We walked all day and most of the night to get to the Orbiter. Ordis got it as close to a mountain as he could, both to give us options to disguise the ship and, as he hopes, at least some signal blockage. Not that we're sending anything out if he can help it. He's cut all comms, our internet isn't functional, anything he could manage.

Rhino's scouting around for somewhere we could make this sod house Inau's talking about building. Frost, Stalker, Inau, and I spent much of the day hiding the Orbiter, rolling boulders and other rocks down (provided Ordis said the ship could take their weight) to break up its silhouette. Next up is some dirt and, hopefully, a few plants to further the appearance of natural growth.

Nobody's come to bother us yet. We've still elected to establish a guard shift. Inau volunteered to take one and, despite Ordis' protests of how much sleep she needs, she wouldn't give in. So we compromised and her shift is early in the morning. I'm right before her. Stalker of all people is before me; he refused to go without a shift, I think it tarnishes his honor or something to not help. I'm not going to tell him otherwise, this entire thing is his fault. Limbo is before him, and Rhino's pulling the first two shifts until Frost is in a state he can reliably take one.

Frost has been mostly responsive, at least. He herded Polar Bear back when she started edging around the lake. He made a few basic, rough signs, according to Limbo. And, of course, he follows along and helps us in our tasks. Well, he follows and helps me, Inau, and Limbo. He bullies Stalker into doing things the way he thinks they should be done if those two do so much as make eye contact. And Stalker just takes it! I can't tell if he's seething or if he's more afraid of pissing off Frost or Inau if he fights back.

I hate why we have to do it. I hate we were run out, and someone might come to hunt us down. I hate that, for all of our effort, this might not be enough. But on some, perverse level, I'm just happy we can step back and not worry about missions or being all cooped up in the Orbiter. We've got the gorgeous view of a lake, mountains all around us, and Ordis said there was evidence of ancient, pre-Orokin civilization, like asphalt near the lake.

I just wish we didn't have to hide here.


	78. Storm

Dear Journal,

It's raining. It's raining very hard. The wind's whipping the small trees around, including some of the middling evergreens. We did what we could to keep working on the Orbiter, but everything's so slick, what we do manage to place is liable to get washed away.

We've spent most of our time inside. Those of us who worked outside cleaned up and dried off. Inau lent us her fluffy towel for all our hard work. Polar Bear ended up needing a bath, too, when Rhino let her out. Okay, both of them needed a bath. He carried her into the washroom to minimize the mud while Limbo made all these calculations to come to the conclusion that it would be more efficient for Rhino to clean the kubrow, and I went to get everything necessary to clean the floors.

Inau's passed the time by trying to increase how much time she spends in Transference with Frost. She says his mind feels like a painting she's always just about to understand, then it shifts and becomes blurry and abstract again. If anything, he's been trying to sign more. We also tried playing some music (what else is there to do?) and when we tried giving him the bass after showing him how you played it, he strummed with just as much enthusiasm as ever, albeit even less technique.

Stalker elected not to take up his role as our backup bassist with Frost watching. That was Limbo's job, even though Stalker kept making remarks on how he should be playing.

Band practice is over; probably for the better, there are still hard feelings about Valkyr. I've found myself near one of the Orbiter's windows. It doesn't have many, and most are getting covered up sooner rather than later. It's so strange, though, looking outside and being _on_ the planet. Even stranger with the rain streaking the windows.

Inau found me. We talked a bit; she says she can't remember her last rainy day at home. I've never had one. I think, with time, it'll be more pleasant. Right now, it's a reminder we're trapped.

Is it Valkyr's fault? It started with Stalker. Or Shadow Stalker? He's got everyone scared, and he fought Stalker in the first place. I guess you could blame Inau for taking Stalker in instead of leaving him to die. Or even Hunhow, he's why there's two Stalkers anyways. But Stalker worked for him in the first place, though Inau still thinks he was manipulated. The Sentients started the war that led to our creation anyways, so maybe it is Hunhow's fault, in the end? No, they wouldn't have fought back if the Orokin treated them better.

Best to blame it all on Ballas and the rest of the Executors. May kubrow piss on their graves.

Inau came back, she had an idea she wanted to share with me, before she talked about it with any of the others. Besides Ordis, because all big things go through Ordis anyways. And building Vauban is a big thing indeed.

She says it won't compromise any of our food stores, and even free up some room by using materials we probably won't need for anything else. She made a couple more good points: if someone does come by, more firepower on our side may save all of us, and he's an engineer. He can lay traps around and maybe even help us settle in and work on more habitation-focused aspects. In the end, I told her I was willing to go forwards with it. So she went to take the thought to the others.

Where would he stay? We can't hire someone on to renovate the Orbiter and prepare for a new warframe. Ordis said he raised the same question, and Inau pointed in the general direction of the outdoors. Which is true, in a way. It may be cramped in here for a while, but eventually we may be able to spread out.

Guard duty shifts would be cut down, too, with another person to take them. Or Vauban can take one of Rhino's shifts and we'll recalculate them all once Frost is in a state where he can help.

Inau seems to have the crowd's support. In about four days, our forces will be one warframe stronger.

Please, if there is any miracle-granting body out there, let them give Vauban an agreeable personality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: the place they landed is based somewhere I lived!


	79. Theorem

Dear Journal,

Why haven't they found us yet? Or come looking for us? The only ships I see fly high above us, too quick to be moving in a search pattern. That, and they don't come back around. I think I'm even starting to see a pattern; there's a few regular Grineer flights, I think supply runs.

Maybe I need a better hobby than watching the ships.

But hey, at least it is a hobby. Though I don't think I could argue it's a very creative one.

In terms of hiding the Orbiter, it's a lot of work. A lot of hard work, of a very different sort than running and killing is. The Grineer were the builders, we were the weapons, looks like we changed that up. At least on our local little scale.

I think I need to get more rest. I've been up at such odd hours. I sneak peeks at Vauban's progress over my watch shift. Ordis talks to me then, about having a new frame around, about the situation we're in, all sorts of things. I think he gets bored at night; hopefully he's less lonely with us awake for shifts, but there's not much for him to do with the ship grounded.

He's a good conversation partner. He almost fills this role, I can't really describe it, but something that feels missing from the personalities in our home. I don't know if the others sense it, I'm afraid to ask with Vauban upcoming. I don't want to put this expectation in their heads then have it broken. I don't even know what I'm hoping for.

Okay. I've figured out one requirement. So long as he doesn't act like Stalker, I'm okay.

Though, in complete and total honesty, Stalker might have needed the fresh air, as Inau put it. (She felt me struggling for words.) Or his situation has broken his spirit so thoroughly he stopped bothering us or seeing us as the enemy. Ordis reports his watch shifts are uneventful, save for the usual prowling and perching in odd places. He makes a point of avoiding Inau's room. Her room, Frost, Rhino, and Polar Bear. Which is unfortunate, it's satisfying to watch Frost push him around. Rhino hasn't been doing anything to him (that I've seen), but when the two look at each other, no matter how long they stare, no matter how much they have to move around, Stalker breaks eye contact first.

Limbo's been limping worse than usual. He's trying to keep up the good spirits/ignore the problem, but I think the stress is getting to him, physical and emotional. I really hope he and Vauban get along, I think he needs someone who will kind of understand his mind. He refuses to go off his duties like he probably needs to, on top of it all.

Ordis and I talked to each other about our concerns for him. Ordis has noticed his range of motion is shorter than usual. He and I are going to devise ways to make some of the tasks around the Orbiter less intensive for Limbo to take on. First one: cooking. Good thing Limbo's tall, we have plenty of chairs to use.

Now the trick will be finding one that isn't bolted in. I think I'm in for some chair conversion projects. Ordis is going to print some parts.

Turns out Limbo also assigned himself another task: find the effective range of Stalker's teleportation, in addition to correcting his original equations on Rift walking. He's working on the latter problem right now, since Stalker, Frost, and Rhino are all out. I did get an hour-long interrogation on the couple instances I experienced how Stalker teleports, but I doubt it was sufficient data.

I swear he's nervous about it, but he could be feeling cooped up. He's tapping his stylus against his knee. A lot. It's a little distracting. Very distracting. He keeps looking around, too, most anywhere but at the projection. Ordis is trying to encourage him, ask questions and posit potential fixes, but I don't think Limbo's listening.

I sat with him again. He's scared. This is the equation that got him killed in the first place. Now his original body's parts just flicker into existence sometimes, all across the solar system. He doesn't even know if all of them are in this solar system, just that there's enough to rebuild his blueprints from. How had I not thought about that before? No wonder he didn't try correcting it all the first time.

He wants me to know that it is his _theorem,_ not _an equation._ I know. I'm a plebian.

I'm trying to write around him. He said my being here helps him feel calm so he can do his math, so now he's pretty much sitting in my lap. Frost spoils him. He's so fucking bony. I don't think we technically have bones, just a metal understructure, but there's no better way to describe this. Even Inau has soft human skin and fat and muscle, no matter how depleted those may be. Limbo feels like cartilage at his softest.

He tried putting his hat on my head. The moment that happened he squirmed like someone held an electrified ice cube to his spine. I don't think he's trying that again.


	80. Tic-Tac-Toe

Dear Journal,

Limbo's having a great time rolling around in his newly modified chair. He's run over most everyone's toes and faceplanted into Rhino twice. Inau devised a paddle-like attachment for his cane so he can use it to move around if he doesn't want to push the wheels. Doesn't stop him from kicking off everything with his “good” leg but it's something.

I think Rhino got revenge for being rammed into. He sat down on Limbo, waited a bit while the smaller frame hit him in the back, and then got up and gave him a look of great bewilderment, like he'd totally forgotten Limbo was there.

It's raining hard enough we got a break from outside work. We did a lot to cover the ship, we even got it to look like a natural landslide just in case someone notices anything suspiciously shipish upon flying close. I fine-tuned Limbo's chair. Rhino rearranged the food stores. Inau, Limbo, and Frost worked together to improve the latter's... everything.

He's doing better. Not signing coherent sentences, not yet. Inau reports he's easier to handle in Transference, that she can feel all this stuff bubbling under the surface of his mind. Limbo says we need a way to get it all back to the foreground.

His solution is to try telling Frost stories about the stuff we've all done. Things he should be able to remember. Staying belowdecks when Rhino found Inau and Stalker boarded the ship. Coming up with all different words and equations. Movie night. Frost listens, rapt, but he doesn't respond or fill things in.

Not yet.

Okay. I went looking to see where Stalker went, since I haven't seen him all day. I checked in the cargo hold, even though Rhino shook his head when I asked if he had any idea what was going on.

Stalker showed up out of nowhere, dripping wet, covered in mud and torn leaves. We both stepped back, ready to fight, staring each other down. I made myself relax and stand normally again; I didn't know if he cornered me on purpose, but I had to act like I trusted him.

He followed suit soon enough. I think he muttered something about his freedom. I'll tell him to talk to Inau, they really do need to work on a new setup. Where can he go from here? Who could he bother? There's no Tenno for a good long while, and I'd bet there's a limit on his teleportation, or he'd have left long ago.

O | X | O  
\---------  
X | X | O  
\---------  
O | O | X 

X | X | O   
\---------   
X | O | X   
\---------  
O | X | O   


O | X | X   
\---------   
X | O | X   
\---------   
O | O | X   


Inau tried to teach me a game. It's pretty fun, but I think next time I'll need to use something other than this journal. I'm most of the way through the pages.

I hope we're allowed back in Tenno society by the time I run out. I want to keep writing, it feels nice to work everything out somewhere other than my head. I know I could use the computer, but then Ordis would have access to it. Actually writing by hand is... nice.

Limbo is trying to figure out some games for us to play. I think the goal is for us to socialize the rest of the evening.


	81. Hunter

Dear Journal,

The rain eased enough that we decided to go hunting. We have plenty of stored food, but if we can save that for emergencies, all the better. So Inau gave me a bow and a dagger and sent me out.

I'm definitely volunteering for hunting duty in the future, even if... similar events happen as they did today. The cool, damp air, the thick foliage, not having to look at Grineer structures or kill wantonly, it was nice.

I did find a deer, after almost a half day of searching. My arrows can punch through armor, it wasn't hard to kill it. I switched to the dagger and went in to clean it, following Ordis' instructions.

We need to come up with some actual hunting knives. The daggers aren't the most useful things for the task.

Anyways, I was cleaning this deer. Ordis talked to himself about the practicality of skinning it and tanning the hide, whether we'd have the equipment for that, berating himself for not thinking to look it up... all that kind of stuff. And I hear something moving, so I stop and look around, and I'm thinking two things:

One, _Oh shit, the Grineer or another Tenno found us._

Two, _What if I just orphaned a baby deer?_

Neither, as it turned out. A young boy, maybe Inau's age, ran out and began lecturing me. He had his own hunting equipment, though his used bone and wood instead of the various metals and sundry elements in mine. I don't know what he said; whatever language he spoke, it wasn't registered in any translation program. I know it was a lecture, he kept pointing at me and he looked furious. I set the dagger down and stepped away from the deer, but he rolled his eyes at me for it.

But, with me out of the way, he stepped in close and I think said some sort of prayer. Whatever he said sounded reverent. So I knelt beside him and signed a rough version of what I think he was trying to do. _Thank you, home star and planet, for giving this deer space to become. Thank you, deer, for feeding our family._

He watched me sign with his brows knit and half-raised, but by the time we were done he let me continue cleaning, though he clucked his disapproval of my choice of knife. He even helped me skin it, though I think I committed an awful faux-pas when I tried to offer him the hide. He seemed to forgive me, though. He tried to converse, but we both soon recognized we didn't know what the other was saying, and that I am mute. So we did a lot of pointing and demonstration.

I tried to ask him to come to the same location in a week. I don't know if he understood my gestures, but I also missed a large part of what he meant. I do want to find a way to get some of this deer to him, he gave me another look when I tried to take some off and give it to him.

No matter what, we now know we have neighbors. The boy wasn't Tenno, that's for sure, I felt no Void energy coming off him. I don't know if they knew about us beforehand, though I'm sure something like the Orbiter coming in is hard to miss. Do we already have a reputation with them? I don't want us to cause trouble.

If we can figure out communication, and establish a good working relationship, I can't imagine someone better to know than natives to the area. They've been here much longer than us, and a warframe and a space ship won't tell us how to use the natural resources, how to make tools useful for living here, or how to handle actually living on a planet. Plus, if Inau can interact with someone closer to her age, without doing so through us, or when it's not a situation like Ruimnem where Frost and I's reputation precede her...

Frost would do so well here. It's cold, and we could use his skills as a linguist. Even if most of that skill is in conlang. Or was.

I think we're mostly in the clear. Frost's re-learned enough signs to form basic sentences and gets frustrated when he can't communicate clearly with us. He seemed confused when Inau tried to explain he broke her nose. It's still a little crooked and he kept poking it, so I guess he remembers how she looked before.

Oh, fantastic. Frost was staring at Stalker for a while and the latter got all ruffled over it. I thought they were going to plain old fight, but Frost jumped upright, signed, _Asshole!_ and got all pleased with himself for remembering. Stalker, not so much.

Needless to say, they're taking turns cleaning off. Stalker went first, he's still bleeding some but it's not bad. They scratched each other up and I don't doubt they'll be sore, but no serious harm. Inau's demanding he explain why he had to fight, even if Frost wasn't exactly helping his own case.

I'm going to sit back and watch. This looks good.


	82. Vauban

Dear Journal,

Vauban's sleeping. On me, where else? Inau lent him a blanket and pillow, he's all curled up. I'll admit, he's pretty adorable. He covered most of his face and sometimes scrubs himself with blanket-covered knuckles. He's lumpy and bumpy, but he's just the right amount of heft to be cuddly, I think. Rhino's unbearably heavy, Frost's cold, Limbo's bony, Stalker is Stalker. He's ugly as the weirdest kavats, but Inau thinks he's cute in his own way and I can kind of see why.

Polar Bear decided to join us. She barked at him a lot at first, but when Inau got him to sit down and let her come see she went wild licking him. He vaguely smells like puppy spit still. I'm gonna make someone bring me a washcloth and hope it doesn't wake him up.

Well, he stirred and swatted at the cloth, but he's tired enough he just slept again. I don't think Rhino was this tired after Helminth completed him, but that's Rhino. Limbo was exhausted, but that's Limbo. Who, by the way, decided to come sit right next to us and stare at Vauban. The poor frame's never going to get a moment to himself in his entire life at this rate.

We gathered by Helminth's door as Ordis' timer approached zero. The nervousness was palpable; our last build didn't go all that well. However, Vauban's blueprints didn't have the complication of existing in two different dimensions. The door opened and we didn't see him until he peered out from the side. He sunk back upon seeing all of us, but Inau kept calling for him in the same tone of voice she calls for Polar Bear.

He crept out eventually and stuck to the wall. Inau approached first and, moving slow, gave him a hug. He settled then and bent over, I think just to get a better look at her. She rocked up on tiptoes to tap her nose against his face, giggling at his surprise.

Rhino stepped up next and did the same, sandwiching Inau between him and Vauban. Frost decided to go next, ramming into the group and nuzzling both the warframes. Vauban contorted away at the shock of cold, and Inau protested getting squished. Limbo squeezed in between Vauban and Frost. Rhino made room for me; what else was I going to do? Sit there and watch? That's what Stalker did before slinking away.

The first orders of business were showing him around the ship and teaching him some signs. Limbo and Inau provided the ship tour, zipping around in the former's chair fast enough Vauban had to jog to keep up. I showed him around belowdecks and explained it's a little tight on space with this number of warframes, but that's what the cabin project is there for.

He wore out quickly during our basic signing lesson. Maybe because Frost was his fellow student. I tried to curb Limbo's enthusiasm while teaching, he moved too fast for them to keep up easily on his own. One of these days, if we can find somewhere peaceful, we do need to sit him down in front of some math or physics students and let him have fun.

Ordis says it's evening, but the sun's still high and bright. Someone will need to wake Vauban up soon to make sure he can sleep when he's supposed to. Up until his shift tonight. Right to work.


	83. Friends

Dear Journal,

The boy who found me hunting visited today, plus he brought along a couple older humans, which confirms the locals saw the Orbiter and that I can successfully point at things to explain stuff. He brought us a few things, including an actual hunting knife.

Inau had been testing Transference with Vauban when Ordis announced someone outside. I think she forgot that not everyone is adjusted to Tenno; she answered the door as Vauban, looked down at herself, then transferred out. The older woman who accompanied the boy looked ready to have a heart attack at it, and I think the older man cursed. He did scold the boy for saying the same things.

Apparently they introduced themselves before the rest of us showed up, as Inau just informed me.

Boy: Zacha  
Woman: Ma'quila (or Ma? Zacha called her Ma a lot, I thought it was a title. Still might be.)  
Man: Hanuck

Inau introduced herself and Vauban, tried to apologize for startling everyone with Transference, then had to go introduce all of us in turn as we tried to get a look at the scene. A couple jaws dropped when the entire family (plus Stalker) stood in full view. I waved at Zacha, but Ma'quila was the first one to come up to interact with us. She stepped up and, with a few gestures (and some slow, “I know you can't understand a word I'm saying so I have to teach you the hard way,” words), asked to check out the workmanship on Limbo's cane. She had him lean on her for support, and didn't seem bothered much no matter how much weight he had to put on her. She seemed quite approving of Hok's work, and Limbo eagerly pointed out some little details.

Also, she grinned like an artist with the best materials when he showed her the dagger. Hanuck muttered something and I think she told him to shut up, she was enjoying this.

Zacha offered us the things he brought while Ma tried to show Hanuck just what he was missing out on. Inau got flustered, she didn't really want to take anything when we were the guests, but Zacha insisted. So, of course, once everyone was inside she offered lunch in return.

If seeing us warframes got some shock and awe, entering the Orbiter was a revelation for our visitors. Zacha actually giggled and kept saying something that I think translated to, “A space ship! I'm in a space ship!” Hanuck made a comment on how it was different from the Grineer ones, and it turns out he can draw really well. Certainly better than we can. We managed to ask him to draw what he was talking about just to clarify and confirm some things.

After the initial curiousness, I think we all settled in with each other. Vauban's hiding; I think that many people around, new ones at that, overwhelmed him. I can hear a stylus scratching on a tablet, though, so I think he's working on something. I'm going to get him a blanket. It's starting to get cool.

He startled when I dropped it on him. It did cover his face, so I'm not surprised, but I didn't expect him to flail like that. I apologized, he sulked a bit, but he did so while clutching the blanket around his shoulders. I don't think Inau's getting it back.


	84. Distance Tracker

Dear Journal,

Ma'quila visited again today. So did Zasha, but he left after dropping her off. She greeted us all but went right for Inau, mushing the girl's cheeks and I think commenting on how small she is. It's not like Ma'quila is much taller, and she is...

Much older than anyone else I've seen. I haven't seen many elderly Ostron, and Konzu and Sayya look spry compared to Ma. She's soft and wrinkled and her cheeks sink in. She generally sags.

She spent the day with Inau, the two have been teaching each other their respective languages. Inau's adding in some of our sign language, Ma finds it more intuitive. Ma also checked to see how we were doing with the deer and gave us some demonstrations on what to keep an eye on. She did approve of Ordis' climate control, he's quite proud of himself. He deserves to be.

Inau's practicing the few words she learned with us. It's pretty basic. Knife, person, food, deer, sky, land, sea, tree, lots of nouns. A few verbs. She's determined to remember them and use them correctly. Her pronunciation doesn't quite sound like how Ma said them, but she can't exactly practice that with us repeating the correct version. As it stands, she checks my memory every so often to correct herself.

I think I'm going to go out hunting again later, see if I can come up with something to share with Ma'quila, Zacha, and Hanuck. They're not only not trying to kill us, but they're helping out. I'm grateful for anything we can get at this point.

Limbo says he's making good progress on his equations theorem. He also discovered that, if he gives Stalker a distance tracker and tells him to teleport a known distance (like from one end of the hall to the other), the tracker comes up with an accurate result on how far he's traveled. That does rely on Stalker doing what he's told to do, but I think he's gotten bored enough that he'll play along just to shake up his routine.

So, for now, Stalker's assignment is to teleport around and note how far he goes each time. Limbo's doing physical therapy, trying to ease himself back into his usual range of motion. It looks... pretty painful. I think he's going to sleep through his shift.

Speaking of shifts, Vauban apparently sits and works through his. I need to talk to him about making sure to patrol the area every now and then. I'm glad he has something he's passionate about, but we need to keep safe.

I also hope he shows us what he's working on soon. He's not much for signing yet, and he clutches his tablet close to his chest whenever any of us approach him about his project.

Stalker teleported right behind him and he didn't notice. Not until he saw a reflection on the tablet's screen. Then he startled badly enough to hit Stalker in the shin with his tablet. I'm not blaming him.

Okay. For context, it's night, and we're all settling in to our nooks before shifts begin. Vauban approached Stalker and apologized for panicking and hitting him. He didn't get a response, only a stare, but that seemed enough interaction for him for the moment. He fled upstairs.

Stalker's absolutely baffled.


	85. Language

Dear Journal,

Ma'quila came back again. I think this is going to be a regular thing while Inau learns about living here. Ma quizzed her on what she'd learned yesterday and decided to incorporate the rest of us into her lessons. Well, she incorporated the other warframes. I was out hunting.

I did get some success there. A couple birds. I don't think I need to get more. Ma showed me how to prep them when I returned.

She used Frost as an impromptu discussion on temperature and feeling. Namely, she took his wrist to get him to help, then jumped back and said a few choice words. None were the word for “cold,” but Inau pretended not to hear them. She introduced that one afterwards. Frost followed them around from then on, just as eager to learn as Inau. He made Vauban join in, hauled the poor thing up from his spot and dragged him along.

Vauban also showed Ma what he's been working on, but still refuses to let us see it. Ma loved it, whatever it is, I think she gave him a couple pointers or other critiques on it, as soon as he helped her use the tablet she kept drawing things and checking in to make sure he understood.

Even Stalker's coming out of his shell. He claims it's out of curiosity, surprise that this old woman doesn't care about the fact that Inau is a Tenno and holds “disgustingly raw power,” nor the fact that all of us are designed to kill, and he in turn is designed to kill us. (He still sometimes gets the idea in his head that he's on the top of the local hierarchy. Idiot.) He shies away from being used in lessons, but at least once that got turned on his head when Ma used it to talk about words that roughly translate to “dour” and “standoffish” and the like.

Inau has learned how to put together a basic sentence. She's been practicing all day, describing things and actions. She and Ma talked while she and Limbo cooked dinner. The conversation was far from complex, but both of them enjoyed it.

Frost's trying to get Vauban to play a game with him. A roughhousing game. Rhino's gotten involved, too. I think I need to go save our engineer.


	86. Fishing

Dear Journal,

Hanuck took me fishing today. He showed up with Ma and, while she went to go greet Inau and everyone else, he passed me a basket and led me off.

Once we had the basket traps ready in the river, he showed me around and pointed out edible plants. He was disappointed when I couldn't try some of the berries, but later in the day, around lunch time, he made sure to show me how to cook some of the plants properly, even if I couldn't eat them myself.

We did manage to catch a couple good-sized fish. The smaller ones slipped right through the basket's weave, like one did when we lifted the basket from the water. We gave our thanks (I think to the river?), he showed me how to clean them, and we brought them back to the Orbiter. He's going home with one full fish, but we cooked and shared the other (Zacha showed up by that point, too) and currently have a soup going with its head and tail and such things.

Ordis is just amazed Inau ate the fish. He's been talking to me about it this whole time. He's never been able to get her to willingly eat fish. I suspect it was for our guests' sake, since she didn't take a lot. I'm curious to see how she takes the soup.

Limbo told me the best story just now. Apparently Ma found Stalker again while she and Inau taught each other their respective languages. Frost was following them around as usual and demonstrated the sign for Stalker's name. Ma got one look at the... very intimately anatomical approximation one makes with one's fingers for the sign and burst out laughing. Like, she had to sit down and take a minute to recover. Inau turned bright red and Stalker vanished. Rhino found him hiding deep in the cargo hold.

I love our new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I believe I've been forgetting to mention it, but I set up a Warframe sideblog on tumblr under the name wearablespacedad.


	87. Contentment

Dear Journal,

It's been a busy couple weeks. I'm running low on pages, so I'm trying to avoid writing unless important things happen.

Inau's learning fast, and so is Ma. She can sign to us some. We butchered the deer and sent Zacha home with some of it. He also double-checked to make sure I'd properly honored the birds I got (I did) and stopped by the next few days to play games with everyone. He's been teaching Inau all the ones he grew up with, since she can't remember the ones she knew.

I talked to her about this whole thing. She's still afraid of stepping on the other humans' toes, since they were here well before us. She's also afraid of showing them, and Zacha in particular, any more of her powers beyond the fact that she can connect with us. That makes her strange enough, in her opinion. She doesn't want to distance herself any further. She finally has a chance to make normal friends.

She cried at the idea of losing that chance. I gave up my shift for cuddle duty that night. What a hardship.

We also finally learned what Vauban's been working on. Now we're beginning construction of a couple small cabins, with Ma'quila's approval. She brought him and his tablet to the village and all the elders debated on whether or not we should be building more. They quickly came to the consensus that yes, we were out of the way enough that we could get some space and build, provided we check in for any additions and any plans for use beyond getting some breathing room. In return, Vauban's assisting in other projects, ranging from weaving to designing new buildings, and we're all going to help when the usual construction season comes again. It took most of a week to communicate all that, but I think we've got it sorted out. Vauban certainly seems to love the work he's getting. He makes sure we build right and gets right back to his weaving. I haven't seen him without a project in hand for a long time.

We've been adjusting well to the idea of staying here. For the most part, anyways. Rhino's been on edge, no matter how much we try to occupy him with construction work. Running missions used to be one of the main aspects of his existence. But here, we don't have to fight. I'm considering taking him out hunting, see if that gives him the outlet he needs. I hope it does, I'd rather not have an antsy Rhino around.

I do wish we had some way to get back to civilization, see if we can slip in to Tenno areas just to get some things. Maybe I'll learn how to make paper and bind books.


	88. Somatic Link

Dear Diary,

Ordis is making me write about what happened so I can process it. Mag lent this to me.

I was helping Limbo with some of his science math stuff. So it was me, Limbo, and Stalker. My job was to go make lines for Stalker to teleport to and count how far away they were from Limbo. We were out on the river delta. It was cold and Stalker was running low on energy, so we were doing a last couple before we went back home.

But then we heard a ship. It wasn't at the right time for a Grineer vessel, and it didn't sound right for one anyways. Because it was a Tenno ship, and it was coming in way too low to have not seen us.

We ran. I grabbed Limbo and tried to run, anyways. He's not light. He dropped his cane, too. So Stalker grabbed us both and we all teleported with him. I felt him leeching off my void energy. I know all my warframes use it but they take enough from me to keep themselves going and supplement with other energy sources. Stalker did his supplementing off me.

Being used as a conduit hurts. It's like having a hot wire getting pulled from the top of your head out through your stomach.

Stalker got us up onto a mountain and in the forest before I couldn't take it any more. We overlooked the delta, close to this big cliff that I think used to be right by a road. Stalker took off. Limbo tried to use me and the trees as support, but I couldn't take his weight, I hurt too much, and the trees were too far apart. He took a couple steps trying to get to another tree and fell. He couldn't get up again! It scared me so much I started crying, trying to pull him to his feet.

The ship got closer and closer. Ships. Another one landed near the Orbiter. Suddenly all my warframes were begging me to come so I could unlock their power but I couldn't even initiate Transference.

Limbo pointed out a gap under some tree roots. I ran for it. Two Tenno dropped down through the trees, deployed from their Liset up above. A Hydroid and a Banshee. They landed between me and the gap, brandishing their weapons. Limbo tried to reach for me and get me to initiate Transference but the Banshee shot him in the shoulder. She didn't even look away from me.

The Hydroid chased me down when I ran. When he caught up he grabbed me and pinned my arms to my sides, lifting me up by the waist. His Tenno's voice came out of nowhere, or I guess the void, growling and a good bit older than my voice. “Where is he?”

I shook my head. I knew he wanted Stalker, but I didn't know where Stalker went. He got out to save his own ass, what else would they expect?

I tried to explain everything. That there were two Stalkers, ours wasn't the one who killed the Tenno boy, whatever I could think of. Hydroid didn't listen, and Banshee just went off to find Stalker.

I was all, “Please! He's a Tenno like us! We can work with him if we try!” and Hydroid squeezed me until my ribs hurt and told me to shut up.

That's when it really went sideways.

Banshee came running out of the woods, firing at something. Energy blades swept through the forest, crisping up anything it touched. She found _a_ Stalker. She obviously didn't want to find Shadow, though.

Hydroid's first instinct was to try and entrap Shadow in tentacles but his energy fizzled and died as soon as he tried to channel it. I saw something else dark in the background, but I couldn't be sure if Stalker was watching to see if we died or if we weakened Shadow, or if it was him at all.

Shadow came running for Hydroid and me. I think mostly me, he stared right at me the whole time and I couldn't blast him or anything. It feels so helpless, watching someone like that charge at you when you know you could stop them.

Hydroid responded by throwing me off the cliff so he could get his Soma out.

Falling makes your stomach feel weird. You don't notice it as a warframe. But it's like all your organs are squishing against your ribcage or your spine, depending how you're turned. I think I screamed, Limbo said I screamed.

All I know was the cliff got further and further away. All the branches and stuff sticking out ended up just out of my reach at the closest. The air whistled in my ears. It blew my hair all around. Everything hurt still, and I could feel Limbo's presence but I didn't have the energy to get all the way to him.

Stalker almost fell over the cliffside. He skidded there, either after getting thrown or throwing himself down. He reached for me and, thinking back, I felt something in my mind. Out of options, I reached back.

Then I was him. He hurt from the slide to the cliff, and his scars ached from all the movement. He crackled with unknown energy patterns, our minds not linked all the way like with my other frames. Like a mirror, but instead of my reflection it was him. And the mirror opened us up and tangled all our guts and brains and secrets together so we'd work in tandem. I clarified his memories or something, I don't know how to explain it. It's like washing the grime off a plate with your own blood and scouring it with your bones. I cleaned off the grime of not remembering things, of thinking he'd always been warframe and Operator, and found the Guardian underneath. The one who'd agreed to become what he hated for the Orokin's sake.

 _Oh,_ I thought to him, _You're not the Tenno. You're the warframe._

And he looked down at those guts and thought, _How long have these been naught but the slicken machinery of a tool?_

 _It's okay. We've all been tools._ We coiled up, staring down the cliffside and waiting for the right moment.

We ducked energy-heated air and backflipped, landing farther from the cliff but closer to Shadow. Stalker knew to sweep his leg out and we did, catching Shadow's ankle and pulling him down. We rolled away, War catching a slice in our back. It hurt, and I felt it bleed. Weird.

We and Shadow sprung up at the same time. We shoulder-checked Banshee and knocked her down in time for a sweep of War's energy to cross where her throat had been.

We dove for Limbo. The cut in our back twinged and we fell short. Shadow kicked us onto our back and held War up, ready to impale us. He poked the scar on our belly with his foot and said, “Weakling. Don't you know I've learned to kill you right?”

He brought War down. I felt it split the skin when something whipped through the air and Shadow stumbled back, hand around the dagger piercing through his stomach. War dropped and we scrambled the last bit to Limbo, who still held his arm out, fingers spread, frozen in the final position for a knife throw, shaking with pain. Turns out he'd wanted to hit Shadow in the throat.

We grabbed his legs and teleported. It is really sludgy, teleporting. We went until we felt our energy falter and we dropped back into the normal universe. Limbo winced at being manipulated until his arm was over our shoulders, but the two of us limped along from there.

“That's not a throwing knife,” I said.

 _I won't reveal my secrets,_ Limbo signed after tugging his arms free enough to be comprehensible.

I had to ask Ordis to define “comprehensible,” blegh.

With teleportation only charging up enough to use every couple minutes, it took us a long time to get back home. Everyone was all scraped up and they had one of the other Tenno there, a Mirage. Frost froze her stiff in the fight. Their fourth squadmate, Nidus, ran off in our direction at about the time Shadow showed up. So Rhino had carried Mirage to the shower so she could warm up and hopefully minimize tissue damage. Mag and Vauban accompanied her by the time we showed up, alternating between fluffing her with towels and blankets and making sure she wasn't going to spring and kill them all.

Of course, they were in the middle of reassuring her no harm would come to her when we showed up with Limbo. She struggled against Mag and Vauban. Rhino helped them, and Frost edged towards us. He practically threw Limbo over his shoulder (Limbo wasn't happy about being so roughly handled, let me tell you) and left to find Limbo's chair.

I ended Transference and went to sit with the Mirage. “There isn't much I can say to make this look okay, is there?”

Boom, Mirage's operator showed up and punched me in the nose. I kicked her shin and backed off. Vauban freaked out and placed himself between her and I.

She kept trying to get past him but Vauban blocked her way. He held her really carefully when she managed to shove her head under his arm to yell at me. I don't think she was older than me at all. She had a sort of cat-looking face, big eyes and her nose went straight down.

“He gutted my Volt! And he killed my brother!” She was angry enough she cried and dug her fingernails into Vauban's side. “He was in the relay my brother's ship crashed into! How could you- how could you _link_ with that bloody pile of kubrow vomit?”

“He hasn't killed any Tenno!” I couldn't prove anything about a warframe, but I could answer this one. “Shadow did that, and he's the one out there with your squadmates. Shadow tried to kill him, too! That's how we found him. Look at all those scars, he almost died.”

Rhino cut off her response. He growled and it sounded like he was trying to clear his throat. I looked behind me and Stalker was gone. We couldn't find him anywhere in the cabins or the Orbiter, and we still can't find him now.

At the moment, though, I made everyone let Mirage and the girl go so they could get to their squad and the two linked up again. “Why did you bother saving him?” she asked.

I said it's because I'm Inau Rho and I guess my job is to fix things. She shook her head at me and ran off, but nobody's come to attack us. The ships cleared out.

We've all been on guard all the time, since we know Shadow was around.

Ordis says I'm done once I write about how all this made me feel so I guess I'm very confused but I'm glad I got the chance to tell other Tenno about what was happening I'm still scared Shadow's going to come back or something but I'll fight him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, goodness, I've waited so long to post this.
> 
> Also, can you imagine the _"Language,_ Operator!" Inau got when she wrote "ass?"


	89. Pacifism

Dear Journal,

Another storm's coming up on us. Stalker's not back yet, I'm beginning to wonder if Shadow did find and kill him. He goes off on sulks sometimes, but it's been days.

A couple days ago, Inau went to the village to formally and publicly apologize for potentially bringing her troubles with her. It took a good chunk of our deer and such to make food for the accompanying potlatch. Ma said we didn't do too horrible as hosts, so that was nice.

The squad who attacked us came back earlier today. They wanted to hear more of the story and get some of the data Ordis kept while Stalker recovered. Of course, they also brought Limbo's cane back, though they couldn't find the dagger-handle. We've got a replacement handle working up in the foundry, though it won't be as stabby.

Talking to people about not wanting to fight was strange. Talking to other Tenno about it, even moreso. All the Operators sat on the couch in the personal quarters, most with some warframe hovering nearby. Hydroid, Nidus, and Mirage tried to have a staredown with Rhino for a while. But Banshee came to check on Limbo and apologize for shooting him in the shoulder. It healed all right, but she said it felt wrong to fire upon another warframe.

Hydroid's Operator never did apologize for throwing Inau off a cliff, though Hydroid wouldn't look her in the eye.

I think Inau's come to an understanding with them. They agreed to call off any remaining hunts for any of us. They didn't say anything explicit about Stalker, but they did say they'd let everyone know the difference between Shadow and Stalker and which one was up to killing Operators.

Nidus' Operator told us to wait a week, then turn our internet connection back on. He gave us his inbox and said if we didn't message him by then, he'd come check in and make sure we could get it reconnected.

I think we're in the clear. At least a little more than before.


	90. Shower

Dear Journal,

Guess who showed up in the middle of the night, covered in mud and leaves and scrapes?

I was on shift, checking around the cabins. Rain poured down sideways, flung about by wind strong enough to pull at me. Trust me, I looked forwards to a nice warm shower once I got back. But for now, I had to do my patrol route and pray Shadow didn't show up in the Orbiter when I was away. Inau's been sleeping piled with all us warframes, but I worry.

Stalker stumbled against one of the walls and slumped. I ran over to check on him and found he was not only dirty but bloody. He had cuts deep enough I could pull them open and see the muscle move when he flinched. I don't know what happened, he won't talk about it.

 _Is Shadow coming?_ I asked.

He shook his head. That was enough for me. I hauled him up and brought him to the shower. He collapsed into a sit, so I stuck around. I turned the water on and told him to stay put.

I ran up to Inau's quarters to get her cleanser; it's much gentler than the one we use, and irritating those cuts wouldn't help anyone. When I got back, Stalker was still sitting, scrubbing off what he could. All the mud and blood ran black down to the drain. He snatched the cleanser and poured some into his hand before shoving it back to me.

We sat on opposite sides of the shower, cleaning off the outdoors in silence. He intercepted most of the water flow, but hunched over as he was, I still got enough to splash myself with.

He tried to reach back but the scrapes on his front gaped open and his movements ground to a halt. He recoiled, still halfway trying to pat cleanser on his back.

I sat behind him. He tensed up at my being there, but there wasn't any other way he could get this done. I poured out a bit of cleanser and lathered it up in my hands before I got to work.

Thinking about it, it feels stranger than it did. In the moment, it was duty. Clean the wounds so they heal, and so there's less gunk tracked around the Orbiter. But this was Stalker. And he not only let me touch him, but it was so I could help him. He could have moved, or swatted me off.

The actual physical act, well, I guess it was just scrubbing. I usually think of him as taut and ready for battle in terms of posture and such, but he's so tense. He flinched hard enough he almost elbowed me in the stomach when I got to the bottom of his ribcage. He got the small of his back himself, so I didn't have to worry about that.

I swear I can still feel the little ridges and curves under my hands. It's weird.

After the shower, he retreated to his nook before I could get any bandages on him. He'll be fine. He flung himself into the nook, face down, and pulled on a blanket Rhino had folded up there in case Inau got cold in the night.

Inau and Vauban were happy to see he'd come back when they woke up. Frost's being more aggressive than usual and I don't think Limbo or Rhino are particularly fazed. Inau's making herself a post-shift breakfast right now, trying to get him to explain what happened out there. It's not working, but it bought Rhino enough time to wrestle some bandages on him. That's good enough for now.


	91. No Paper

Dear Journal,

It's a beautiful day out. The storm abated, but everything's still glistening damp. I see more clouds on the horizon, but we've got this little bit of respite.

We got the internet back online. It's full of Tenno posting videos of them being hunted in recent-ish missions and asking to confirm whether the Stalker after them is our Stalker or Shadow. Almost all the ones from the time we found Stalker on have identified Shadow. Inau's beginning to build an online presence up, starting with talking to Valkyr and her Operator. It was a difficult conversation.

I'm learning the proper seasons and limits for hunting and fishing different game. I'm trying to teach Rhino what I learn, but it's hard to tell how much sticks with him.

Limbo – stars and sun and moon – Limbo has found a network of other Limbos who are all working to correct their theorem. I read some of their posts once. It looked like five calculators vomited all over the place. Thankfully, one of the Limbos thinks the best way to handle matters is by drawing terrible mini-comics of his work. Those are actually legible.

Wait.

The mini-comics come from our Limbo.

Vauban's all abuzz as we finish up the cabins. He's experimenting with different features; one has a sunken center that he hopes he can line with cushions like a giant, plush nest. The cabins aren't all that big, either, they outsource most of their resource needs to the Orbiter, so almost all that cabin is big nest. Another has a small loft. It can hold Rhino's weight, which is reassuring.

Frost's still not quite the same. He's more physical and less verbal than before, I've noticed. Not that he's quiet like Rhino, oh no. I think he's still getting a grasp on language. I think we might have to see this as our new normal. He's still our Frost, though, we'll love him to bits.

I'm just about out of lines. I guess I'll need a new journal. Goodbye, it's been good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're done!
> 
> With this story, anyways. I've got another in the works, I want to build up a good amount of buffer before I get to posting it, so it may be a while. Right now, I'm a bit stuck on what to do with it while I work towards a few plotlines. There's a sizeable cast change-up in the second story, I'll tell you now. Make new friends, but keep the old, right? There's also some stuff that doesn't exactly happen in canon, but I can't help but pull from what's going on in the game.
> 
> I can't wait for The New War to give me more material and also probably like, make me cry.


End file.
